Africatalentbank

Inside a Bridge International Academies class. 

 BACKGROUND

Mr Jay Kimmelman is a successful entrepreneur and passionate advocate for issues related to global poverty. Prior to founding Bridge International Academies, Jay was founder and CEO of Edusoft, the leading educational software company providing assessment platforms to US public school districts. Jay led the company from inception in a San Francisco apartment to national success providing critical services to millions of students, forming groundbreaking partnerships, and establishing the company as the recognized leader in the market. Jay sold the 150-person, $20M revenue company to Boston-based publishing company Houghton Mifflin in 2003. At that time, Edusoft was serving more than 3 Million students in 400 school districts across the nation, including the second largest in the country.  Jay received his B.A. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard University

Mr Kimmelman, thank you for granting ATB News this interview. May I start by asking, how did Bridge International Academies (BIA) come about and why Kenya specifically?

Bridge International Academies was conceived in 2007 out of the belief that giving every child access to a high quality education would have the greatest impact on reducing poverty worldwide. With that guiding insight, Bridge International developed a strategy that would enable it to launch a large-scale network of high-quality, ultra low-cost, for-profit primary schools. Operating a network of schools supported by a strong central headquarter gives Bridge International the scale, experience, and capacity to invest in systems of management, support, training, and innovation that allows individual schools to dramatically increase their effectiveness. 

We started our operations in Kenya for the following reasons: Kenya is one of the leading countries in Africa driving innovation which in itself, is conducive to our business model succeeding; parents in Kenya were desperately looking for good quality education at affordable prices; the welcome climate that the country offers; Kenya's openness to new and innovative ideas; and of course, the friendliness of the Kenyan people.

Bridge International Academies Headquarter on Mombasa Road

So your schools specifically target the "bottom of the pyramid" sector of the population. Is this correct?
Yes. At Bridge International Academies, we believe that every child deserves a high-quality primary education regardless of parental income. In many developing countries, there is a large gap between current service provision and the needs of the population. Bridge fills this gap. We deliver high-quality primary education that is affordable in even the most impoverished communities. We believe that education is a bridge to a better future for every child, and that at Bridge International, every child can learn the knowledge and skills needed to improve the conditions of his or her own life, community, and nation.

How many schools do you currently operate?
We opened our first school in 2009 and to date, we have 83  Bridge International Academies spread across Kenya, serving 26,000 pupils in primary and pre-primary.  We are currently the largest chain of private schools in Africa (at any price point), and in the next year we will likely become the largest chain of private schools in the world.  Our target is to serve 10 Million pupils from around the globe.

Describe your business model and teaching methods.
I would describe the Bridge model as an "Academy-in-a-box", where we take technology and talent from the local community and enable them to very successfully operate an academy. Our teachers and academy managers are from the local community,  all operating our processes system using our training programmes, our tools, our monitoring, our curriculum, and our technology, and this is what enables us to do this at scale and efficiently and therefore cost effectively. The curriculum is similar to that found in other Kenyan schools and we use direct instructions to allow us to give better instruction in the classroom. We are now taking this a step further by actually putting devices in the classroom that not only have the instructional material but also give us the assessment scores and the attendance.

Lessons are fully scripted, word for word, based on the best research in the world and data collected from all over Kenya, so no matter where the child comes from, they are able to understand. Tuition is paid for using mPesa, with fees averaging Ksh 400 per month.

What were the major challenges that you faced in your business experiences and what are some of the things that, with the benefit of hindsight, you would have done differently?
Bridge International Academies is not just the largest chain of private schools in Africa, but in January 2013, will be the largest chain (in terms of locations), of any type of business in Kenya.  We are currently launching one new academy every 3 calendar days.  We’re completely vertically integrated, meaning we run everything from our own market research, real estate and construction operations, to technology, curriculum, recruiting, training and quality assurance.  Operating at such a scale and scope of business has been a challenge, and ensuring that all of these pieces seamlessly integrate is an enormous task.  We’ve grown from 3 to almost 1,200 employees in just four years, and there are a lot of inherent challenges in maintaining that kind of growth.  We’re continually challenged to find the very best talent in the country to join our Company and our mission.

What distinguishes BIA from its competitors?
While our curriculum follows the Kenyan system of education, there are a number of factors that differentiate us including:  

(1) Business Model - Namely our "Academy-in-a-box" business model, as mentioned above.

(2) Quality Education at affordable Prices - Bridge International Academies is able to profitably deliver high-quality education for 400 shillings per child, per month. This ensures our academies will continue to successfully serve local communities as long as parents value the educational service provided. 

(3) Scalability - Through rapid and strategic expansion, Bridge International expects to enroll over 10 million pupils across the globe in the coming years.

In addition, our pupils receive more individual attention, are offered lunch at school, our teachers are from the local community and so they live and work amongst the students and we also have performance metrics by which we assess teachers.

In terms of rolling out, are you looking to roll out BIA into neighbouring countries and beyond?

Yes we are looking to roll out into other African countries as well as around the world including India.  Global expansion is on the horizon for 2013, but the adventure begins here in Kenya!

GRADUATES

You are now looking for graduates for various positions at Bridge International Academies. Which vacancies are you looking to fill and what attributes are you looking for in your graduate recruits?  

Curriculum Authors – We’re looking for the best and brightest graduates with incredible writing (English) skills who are detailed, conscientious with experience or passion for education, to join our curriculum team.  These authors will work with top Kenyan and International educators to design education materials delivered at each of Bridge’s 135 academies, and write lessons that deliver world class education to children in some of the nation’s poorest communities.

Academy Improvement Managers – We’re also looking for a small number of dynamic, articulate and mature graduates to be responsible for managing and supervising an entire territory of Bridge International Academies.

Academy Improvement Managers work closely with a large group of Academies in a specific geography to ensure that the Academies are operating at the highest levels across operations, instruction and finance.   This role requires a constant presence at the Academies and close interaction with each Academy Manager, as well as Academy Teachers, to ensure that there is continuous bi-directional communication and coaching. Academy Improvement Managers completely own (and therefore are accountable for) the performance metrics of all of the Academies in their territory, as measured by financial, operational and instructional benchmarks.

Research Associates – We’re looking for talented, research-minded recent graduates to join our Market Research team which conducts research, provide critical analysis, insight, reports and data to the rest of the company on socio-economic conditions, competitive landscapes, plot-specific research and population density in all of our potential communities.  Research Associates are at the core of our data-driven, community-based approach to site selection and operations.  Experience in conducting field research in, or comfort with, slums and informal settlements is a plus!

Junior Software Engineer - We are looking for a bright Junior Software Engineer to work under the supervision of the Team Lead. His/her responsibilities will include: Designing, implementation and debugging of custom enterprise software to power and improve the efficiency of our rigorous processes at both our schools and headquarters, working closely with the Team Leader in order to understand the functional and system requirements, working closely with the QA team in the testing process through unit testing and bug fixes to ensure the quality of the systems being developed, supporting in-house users of our custom software and problem solving and providing second line support to end users of systems that have been deployed to support our business operations and integration of our custom systems with off the shelf software.

Other Job Openings – In the last 4 years, we’ve grown our company from 3 to almost 1,200 employees.  We’re hiring in a lot of areas, including Technology, Procurement, Construction, Supply Chain, Operations, Finance and more. We’re looking for the country’s top graduates to join one of the most exciting companies in Kenya!

Why should a bright, motivated graduate select a career at Bridge International Academies over an established multinational for example?
If you’re looking to join a company that has the potential to change the face of the globe by providing a world-class affordable education to those with few options, then this is the place for you.  If you’re looking for a fast-paced, dynamic environment, where the bar for quality is set extremely high, and where you will have tremendous learning opportunities, then you should join Bridge International Academies.  If you’re looking to experience what a truly fast-growing world-class startup backed by some of the largest investors in the world feels like, give us a call.  If you’re passionate about truly changing the future of Kenya and ultimately the world, then this is the right place for you. 

What advice would you give to a young person entering the workforce today?
For the most talented and brightest graduates, there are always a world of options and possibilities in terms of companies and careers.  My advice is to pick a company that gets you excited and where you are passionate about what they do, their product, service or contribution to the world.  Pick a company where after a few years, you can look back and be proud of your work.

GOING FORWARD 

What are your plans for 2013?
We are currently opening more than 10 academies per month and in January 2013 alone, we will open up an addition 50 new academies just in that month.  There’s a lot of tremendously interesting, difficult and exciting positions that we need to fill in order to make this happen! 

Any parting message to ATB Members?
Yes, we're hiring! Join us in giving all children access to a good quality education. We are always on the lookout for bright, motivated, candidates. We will also be giving presentations at various universities in Nairobi so look out for further details on the AfricaTalentbank.com Facebook page. 

TO APPLY FOR A JOB
To view and apply for current graduate jobs, please visit this link - Bridge International Academies Graduate Jobs

OTHER USEFUL LINKS

1. Bridge International Academies Website

2. Bridge International Careers Page 

3. Bridging the Education Gap - KTN Primetime News (video)

4. Educating the Slums - NTV, This Morning (video)

5. Spark Africa - Education 'big business' in Kenyan slums