Chaptr Global, the Kenyan startup that improves access to education

BASED ON THE LEARN NOW, PAY LATER CONCEPT, THE COMPANY COFOUNDED BY CYRIL MICHINO PROMISES TO IMPROVE THE FINANCING OF EDUCATION IN A SYSTEM THAT PUTS YOUNG PEOPLE WITHOUT A CREDIT HISTORY AT A DISADVANTAGE

Doing a start-up in Kenya means finding a gap in the market, a space without services for the consumers, and filling it. In the country’s economy, a real empty place could reveal a big opportunity. The reason? The reason is that this empty space there aren’t competitors for their services and products. This kind of gap is very frequent in the Education Financing field, where there are only three options if young persons want to continue their studies. They are: having enough money by themselves, hoping for a public contribution to attend a public university or, in the end, signing an income-sharing agreement and choose the school. In the last case, “When a student graduates and starts to work, he or she’ll split their salary to repay the cost of studying”, says Cyril Michino, co-founder of Chaptr Global, a start-up that tries to improve access to higher education in Africa, by offering the formula “learn now, pay later”. “Schools can allow students pay what they can afford, learn and pay the rest once they start earning. If a student doesn’t make money, he or she won't have to pay. In a successful case, then, they’ll pay a small amount, a contained percentage. Income should not be a barrier to accessing education”.

So, Chaptr Global offers a service that traditional banks don’t (the startup charges transactional fees on repayments, editor’s note). “Bank loans are extremely rare for young learners with no credit history. Therefore, income-share agreements are an alternative for the majority of students who cannot find cosigners as they come from low-income households”, continues Michino, whose startup was accelerated by B4i, the accelerator of Bocconi University. “We first niched into the coding market as we had run a coding school before (now Zindua School) and understood the tech job market and the salary expectations for graduates; they have good chances to earn a relevant salary in the job market. We provide the technological net to facilitate investments and bridge the gap between schools and many students”. The final result is to reduce the school dropout rate, concludes Cyril Michino.

Chaptr Global doesn’t exclude the future possibility of diversifying its service portfolio and launching its first professional certifications, Master’s courses and, eventually, undergraduate education, but only for select courses. Michino remembers when he started and has a suggestion for people who are taking the same step: “Concentration should be pointed to the start-up service. Be sure to have it well shaped for African society. Introducing a copy of a foreign business model will not work. The service must be fitting for the local behaviours and values”.

by Camillo Papini