Taleem Finance partners with Opportunity EduFinance to increase access to education through school financing
Lahore – March 31, 2021: Taleem Finance Company Limited (TFCL) has partnered with Opportunity International EduFinance (EduFinance) to further its mission to be a market leader in providing financial and non-financial support to the entire education ecosystem, improving both sustainability of businesses and learning outcomes for students.
TFCL has a vision to ‘remove barriers to the rights of every child to get a quality education leading to a more purposeful life.’ To remove barriers to education access, TFCL offers affordable non-state schools as well as allied entities a suite of education loan products enabling them to invest in infrastructure improvements such as new classrooms, washrooms, handwashing stations, working capital streamlining and ICT. By making capital affordable and accessible to school owners, TFCL is equipping them with the capacity to create enabling and inclusive learning environments for their students – including girls - while growing a sustainable education business that benefits the whole community.
Opportunity EduFinance will support TFCL in reviewing existing education loan products to help ensure that the terms offered meet the unique needs of schools in the current environment – especially as these institutions are recovering from the impacts of Covid-19 on their operations, teachers and students. EduFinance will also provide customized workshops for TFCL’s staff to further develop their expertise on the education ecosystem, best practices to support school owners’ financing needs, and how to mitigate lending risks to grow a sustainable education finance portfolio.
In addition, TFCL and EduFinance will be evaluating opportunities for continuously improving the borrower experience through integrated digital innovations. This is likely to include the use of a credit scoring model for TFCL clients for improved risk evaluation, as well as timely and objective credit decisions that benefit borrowers. The teams will also collaborate to develop and implement Ed Tech solutions as well as fee pay management systems for these education institutions to ensure continuity of activity in times of unforeseen closures as experienced during Covid-19.
Kamran Azim, CEO of TFCL, shares why this partnership aligns with TFCL’s strategic goals. “Partnering with EduFinance will have a compounding benefit for TFCL’s objectives of giving the country’s education ecosystem appropriate financial and non-financial support. This has been an ignored sector hence as the first dedicated education finance company of Pakistan, the immense worldwide experience of EduFinance will enable us to move faster and enhance the impact of TFCLs offerings significantly.”
Andrew McCusker, Head of Opportunity EduFinance, further explains why EduFinance was eager to partner with TFCL. “While we see an increasing number of financial institutions recognize the demand for financing from the affordable non-state school sector, there remain few that are primarily focused on investing in education. TFCL is one of these unique partners that has made improving the quality of education its primary mission, committing to developing sector-leading expertise in what non-state school owners need to ultimately grow access to quality education across Pakistan. EduFinance is excited to join this mission-aligned partnership and contribute our expertise and knowledge for the greatest possible.”
ABOUT TFCL
Taleem Finance Company Limited (TFCL) was licensed by SECP on 12th June 2019 to carry out Investment Finance services as a Non-Banking Finance Company. With commercial operations commencing in January 2020, TFCL has chosen the role of being the first catalyst of its type to handhold the affordable non-state Education Institutions and allied businesses in the education ecosystem across all corners of the country and provide them easy, affordable and need-based financial and non-financial services. TFCL has reached out to over 100 clients by financing of Rs 100 million plus (USD 660k approx.), in over 6 cities thus enabling better quality education for over 25,095 students (50% girls) and enabling 1,147 teachers (83% females) to be retained through timely financial support. To learn more about TFCL, please visit www.taleemfinance.com or join us on Facebook and LinkedIn.