Impact investor announces exit from Enko Education
Enko Education operates in 10 countries with 16 schools.
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Impact investor Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P) has announced its exit from Enko Education, a network of African international schools.
Enko Education operates in 10 countries with 16 schools, serving more than 7,000 students from kindergarten through high school.
I&P supported Enko Education from its early stages, investing through its fund I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 1 in 2016, alongside Proparco. At the time, Enko was still a startup. Nine years later, the company has become a pan-African network with a proven model and a broadened investor base, including Oikocredit, BIO, Africa Capitalworks, and Adiwale Fund I.
During I&P’s investment period, Enko Education’s revenue increased 22-fold, profitability was reached in the 2020–2021 fiscal year, and growth prospects were strengthened through an ambitious acquisition strategy, notably in Senegal, Mali, and now East and North Africa.
At the end of 2024, Enko Education raised $25 million from Africa Capitalworks and Adiwale Fund I, with the main objective of tripling its student population to reach 20,000 learners by 2029.
In this context, I&P finalised its exit from Enko’s capital in December 2024, concluding a nearly ten-year partnership.
“I would like to express my gratitude to I&P, who were the very first investors to believe in Enko Education. Their early trust and support were a real catalyst for our project, and this founding relationship holds a very special significance for me. Today's exit marks a new stage in our journey: one in which we are taking off on the solid foundations we have built together. I know that I&P will never be far away, always attentive to the impact we will continue to generate,” said Eric Pignot, co-founder and managing director of Enko Education.
“Supporting Enko Education has been an extraordinary human and entrepreneurial adventure. Alongside Proparco, we believed in the vision championed by Cyrille Nkontchou and Eric Pignot from day one, and the company has proven that a rigorous, inclusive, and accessible education model is possible in Africa. We are proud to have helped lay the foundation for its success, supported by an expanding base of African private investors and now carried forward by high-quality partners such as Adiwale and Africa Capitalworks,” said Jérémy Hajdenberg, co-CEO of I&P.
Read more from our sister publication, ‘How we made it in Africa’: How to build a private schools business in Africa
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