Jia powers education in Kenya with Jackfruit Finance

This article is part of a series spotlighting local partners providing valuable services in their communities, powered partly by Jia’s financing.

Partner Spotlight: Jackfruit Finance, Kenya

Nairobi Academy, situated in Nairobi’s vibrant Lavington neighborhood, is home to more than 200 students aged 14 to 18. As a secondary school, the Academy provides critical skills in math, science, English, Swahili, and more to students before they enter the workforce or continue on to University education.

“Our job is to help our pupils succeed in whatever path they choose,” says David Ngora, the Academy’s principal administrator.

“We are proud to provide students with the best possible education we can.”

Founded in 2017, Nairobi Academy is a private school, which are common across Kenya due to limited government funding for public education. In fact, one in three children are educated in low-income private schools in the country. However, this leaves the school dependent on fees from parents to maintain operations. As parents’ incomes fluctuate, the school is sometimes left without.

“Securing supplies and textbooks for the students is all dependent on revenue we generate from fees. This can be a struggle when parents fall behind. In the past it was even difficult to pay teachers’ salaries on-time,” says Mr. Ngora.

That is, until Jia teamed up with Jackfruit Finance to provide schools like Nairobi Academy with affordable financing to continue providing students with the best possible education.

Jackfruit Finance is a Nairobi-based startup that brings financing to low-resource schools across Africa. They have provided funding to over 80 schools, while maintaining perfect repayment rates to date.

Jia makes it easier for Jackfruit Finance by allowing them to provide blockchain-powered loans that reward schools after repayment with ownership tokens. These tokens can then be used to unlock benefits like lower rates. Loans range from KSh 100 to KSh 850 (around $850-$2050 USD), and cost between 2–4% per month. Schools have up to six months to repay.

Jia has helped fund Nairobi Academy through its partnership with Jackfruit Finance since April 2022, in which time the school has started on needed restorations to their facility and has even raised enrollment numbers. As Mr. Ngora says:

“Maintaining operations is so much easier thanks to Jackfruit and Jia. We now have affordable funding to provide the students with the education they deserve. We use the loans to buy textbooks and pay our teachers salaries when our income varies. We can even give parents more flexibility with fees now.”