Pearson Affordable Learning Fund

Michael  Chu; Vincent  Dessain; Kristina  Maslauskaite

Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2015

Pearson Affordable Learning Fund

by Michael Chu, Vincent Dessain and Kristina Maslauskaite

Abstract

An in-house venture capital fund for affordable private schools at the base of the pyramid established by Pearson, the world's largest education company, PALF sought to invest in business models providing superior educational outcomes in emerging markets on a profitable and scalable basis. With Pearson's overall strategy shifting from the developed to the developing world and from a supplier of books to a host of other learning products and services, the company thought PALF's lessons might be applicable to Pearson's core businesses. By 2014, Katelyn Donnelly, the Managing Director of PALF, and her team had made seven investments in Africa and Asia and were close to fully committing the $15 million earmarked for the initiative. In the upcoming meeting of PALF's Investment Committee, Donnelly must present a recommendation: should Pearson allocate more internal money to the fund or should they open it up to third party investors?

Keywords: impact investment; low cost private schools; investment fund; business at the base of the pyramid; Transition; Investment; Development Economics; Business Growth and Maturation; Social Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; Education; Education Industry; Asia; Africa;

Language: English

Format: Print

27 pages

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Citation:

Chu, Michael, Vincent Dessain, and Kristina Maslauskaite. "Pearson Affordable Learning Fund." Harvard Business School Case 315-109, March 2015.

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Pearson Affordable Learning Fund

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