Educating and upskilling Africa’s large population of young people requires an estimated $40 billion per year. Rwanda-based Chancen International offers African students income-share agreements that tie repayment of funding for education to their income after graduating, as an alternative to student loans. The form of education financing is meant to ensure students in high-demand fields aren’t saddled with debt if they don’t have stable or adequate income.
“Ethical education finance can become a scalable solution to one of the world’s largest barriers to opportunity,” Chancen’s Batya Blankers told ImpactAlpha. “We are not simply financing seats in classrooms – we are financing pathways into dignified work, economic mobility, and long-term livelihoods.”
The nonprofit has raised $29 million for its planned $33 million Future of Work Fund, which provides the income-share agreements, or ISAs, via university and vocational training program partnerships in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa.
Fund LPs
The Future of Work Fund’s roster of LPs includes the SDG Outcomes Fund, a joint initiative of UBS Optimus Foundation and Bridges Fund Management that invested $10 million. UBS Optimus Foundation separately reupped with $4.6 million after investing in the fund’s first close in 2022. Other backers include Ceniarth, Tsao Family Office, German education company Klett Gruppe, and nonprofit ADA. Chancen is part of the UBS-backed 100x social impact accelerator (see, “Accountability for outcomes can spur impact investments in educational income share agreements”).
Employment track
Chancen’s partnerships focus on programs with high employability potential or that cater to underprivileged youth, women and people with disabilities.
“We only partner with rigorously-vetted institutions whose programs are linked to real employment pathways, because young people should not bear the full risk of poor-quality education,” Blankers said.
Almost 10,000 young people have accessed its income-share agreements; most are from rural and low-income communities. The organization says its ISAs require no upfront payments, no collateral or guarantors, and have a 97% repayment rate.
Chancen pauses or adjusts repayments if students earn less than specified local income thresholds or they lose their job or experience other hardships, said Blankers. “The contract has a fixed duration, providing clarity and predictability.”
