Jackfruit Foundation: pioneering educational transformation and sustainable development in Kenya

For over three years, Jackfruit Foundation has operated in Kenya, focusing on advancing equity and quality education.

Registered as FigHaven Foundation in Kenya, the organization works toward improving education in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Foundation’s work is linked with Jackfruit Finance, a fintech company also based in Nairobi.

Jackfruit Finance was co-founded in 2021 by Robert Alhadeff, CEO, and Max Weiner, CTO.

Mr. Alhadeff has nearly a decade of experience in credit risk management from London and has worked in off-grid solar in East Africa, gaining insights into collections and portfolio management.

He also serves on the board of an educational NGO.

Max Weiner provides the technological expertise for developing and scaling the company’s platforms, which include those supporting the Foundation’s initiatives.

Jackfruit Foundation and its partners, including Jackfruit Finance, aim to address specific gaps in education.

This involves providing financial solutions to private educational institutions, alongside initiatives designed to support the broader educational ecosystem.

The Foundation’s purpose emerged from a need in the financial sector, where many private schools, despite serving numerous Kenyan children, lacked tailored credit options.

Since its founding, the organization has expanded its operations, adapting its models to serve these needs and affecting the development of schools and student opportunities.

Addressing Educational Needs

Kenya’s educational system includes a significant number of private schools. These institutions serve a broad student population from various economic backgrounds.

Parents often choose private schools for reasons such as class sizes or specific curricula.

However, obtaining affordable and timely financing for expansion, infrastructure improvements, or operational needs has presented a consistent challenge for these schools.

Traditional lenders typically require extensive financial reports, substantial collateral, and established credit histories.

Many private schools, particularly newer ones or those in lower-income areas, often lack the formal documentation or significant assets required.

Reports indicate a substantial financial gap in affordable debt for low-cost private schools in Kenya.

This suggests that traditional finance often perceives this sector as high-risk, leading to limited availability of tailored financial products.

This situation has constrained the growth of these schools and their capacity to enhance educational facilities.

Without reliable access to capital, schools may face difficulties in building additional classrooms, investing in teaching materials, upgrading sanitation facilities, or maintaining consistent teacher payments.

Such issues can directly impact educational quality and student retention.

Jackfruit Foundation, through its various initiatives and partnerships, including Jackfruit Finance, works to address this financial and developmental gap.

The Foundation recognizes that schools have distinct revenue cycles.

Jackfruit Finance, for instance, has developed a tech-enabled lending model designed to accommodate these cycles, allowing for assessment of a school’s financial viability using metrics beyond traditional banking requirements.

This approach makes loans available to institutions that require funding but are not served by mainstream financial providers.

This aims to foster growth in a sector important for a large segment of Kenya’s student population.

Key Focus Areas and Operational Approach

The Jackfruit Foundation operates with several key focus areas that guide its work in education:

• Climate Resilience and Green Energy: The Foundation supports sustainable practices and green energy solutions in partner schools. This focus aims to reduce environmental impact and potentially lower operational costs. Activities include promoting solar power installations, water conservation systems, and integrating environmental education into school curricula. The goal is to develop resilient school infrastructure and support environmentally conscious practices.
• Education and Capacity Building: This area emphasizes strengthening educational outcomes. It includes teacher training, curriculum development support, and leadership development for school administrators. Capacity building initiatives aim to improve education quality by upskilling teachers, supporting learning methodologies, and providing essential school supplies and resources.
  Tech & Innovation for Social Good: The Foundation utilizes technology to address educational challenges. This includes developing digital learning platforms, data-driven tools for school management, and technology integration in classrooms. It also involves implementing AI-driven impact measurement and customized interventions, and supporting EdTech innovations.
  Gender Equality and Inclusion: This focus area promotes equal opportunities in education through targeted programs. These programs support girls’ education, foster female leadership in schools, and work towards creating inclusive learning environments that cater to diverse needs and backgrounds, including children with disabilities.

Jackfruit Finance, as a partner, utilizes an AI-powered credit scoring model within its lending process, aligning with the Foundation’s focus on tech and innovation.

This system collects operational and financial information from schools through a dedicated app.

This digital process reduces the need for extensive formal financial paperwork, simplifying and accelerating applications for schools.

The AI algorithm analyzes various data points to assess a school’s creditworthiness and repayment capacity.

On-site visits are also conducted to gain a fuller understanding of each school’s operational context, needs, and potential.

This blend of technological assessment and direct verification aims for informed lending decisions.

The Foundation and its partners also implement standardized project plans developed by architects.

This helps ensure that funds for construction or renovation are used for structured improvements.

The organization connects schools with partners, such as school bus distributors, to potentially reduce acquisition and development costs.

Jackfruit Finance has also partnered with Jia.xyz to offer blockchain-powered loans, which may provide benefits like lower rates upon repayment.

Impact and Community Involvement

The operations of Jackfruit Foundation and its partners have affected schools across Kenya.

Daystar Primary School in Nairobi’s Mathare slum provides one example.

The school faced financial management issues and delays in fee collection. Daystar partnered with Jackfruit Finance.

This collaboration enabled parental fee payments to be spread over eight weeks, aligning with parents’ daily wage earnings.

The school now manages collections and finances using a mobile app, which assists in consistent payroll management and student attendance.

Nairobi Academy, a private secondary school, also received support from Jackfruit Finance.

The school, reliant on parental fees, experienced fluctuating income, impacting its ability to procure supplies and pay staff consistently.

Through a partnership with Jackfruit Finance and Jia, Nairobi Academy accessed financing.

This enabled facility renovations and an increase in enrollment.

Beyond direct financing, Jackfruit Foundation implements “Partner Reward” programs.

Schools receiving project and asset loans are provided with water purification tablets and 100-liter water tanks, contributing to clean water access.

They also receive textbooks and access to the “Jackfruit After School” program.

These initiatives involve partnerships with organizations like East African Educational Publishers and Domysuma Architects.

Broader initiatives.

They are involved in the “LEAP Project” with the Global Schools Forum, which links loan terms to student performance metrics, potentially reducing interest rates for schools showing improved learning outcomes.

They have expanded lending services to Early Childhood Development (ECD) providers.

Jackfruit Finance adapted its credit scoring for ECDs’ specific financial structures, which often involve cash payments and less formal tracking.

This includes efforts to transition these centers to mobile and bank transactions and adjust eligibility based on current enrollment figures.

Their collaboration with Instill Education on a “Pay For Results School Lending” study also explores how financial incentives can support learning improvements.

According to the Foundation’s reporting, its reach has expanded.

They have reached 618 schools, impacting 182,673 students. Additionally, 292,277 parents have children enrolled in Jackfruit-supported schools, and 7,247 teachers have received training.

Seventy-five percent of school directors involved in their initiatives are female. These metrics indicate broad engagement across the educational landscape.

Outlook and Vision

The Jackfruit Foundation, with its operations aligned with Jackfruit Finance, continues to expand its work.

Jackfruit Finance reports having provided financial support to over 400 schools, impacting more than 137,921 children, with approximately 69% of their borrowers being female.

Within nine months of operation, Jackfruit Finance developed a $1.7 million loan portfolio, reporting consistent repayment rates.

The company has received funding from investors, including Plesion Capital, VestedWorld, and Sherpa Ventures. Competitors in the market include Ed Partners Africa.

While Jackfruit Finance operates primarily as a lending institution offering commercial loans to private schools, it also employs blended financing models.

This strategy involves actively sourcing philanthropic funds to specifically subsidize credit costs for certain segments, such as under-resourced daycare centers.

This approach allows them to extend their reach and make their loan products more accessible to these particular institutions, while maintaining their fundamental nature as a finance company that provides repayable credit.

Jackfruit Foundation aims to partner with an increasing number of schools in the coming years.

This objective involves exploring further blended financing models, combining commercial loans with philanthropic funds.

Such an approach seeks to attract resources from various stakeholders and to potentially subsidize credit costs for additional under-resourced daycare centers, thereby expanding access to early childhood education.

The Foundation and its partners have encountered challenges, particularly concerning the integration of technology into diverse school systems, many of which may have limited digital infrastructure or varying levels of technological familiarity.

Jackfruit Foundation addresses these challenges by offering training programs designed to assist schools in adopting and utilizing new technologies.

This support aims to ensure that schools can benefit from the digital tools provided, contributing to their long-term operational efficiency.

Jackfruit Foundation operates within the private education sector in Kenya, providing a combination of financial services and educational support designed to foster school development and operational stability.

Its model represents a targeted approach to addressing financial access issues within this segment of the education system, contributing to broader efforts to improve educational access and quality in the region.