3 Reasons why you should invest in our students
"Completion of my degree seemed a hopeless dream. I am very privileged to be a part of the big picture of investing into talented students…
- Charles Okai Addai, Brighter Student
While youth unemployment in many developing countries exceeds 30%, employers report that they can't find enough qualified graduates to hire. The problem is so large that despite the number of unemployed locals, many companies resort to hiring expensive expats from abroad. It is clear that a lot of value would be created if the most talented local high school graduates got high quality degrees, so they can fulfill their own country's labor market demand.
Graduate wage levels reflect this value creation. The increase in income from a quality degree often provides the student with an ROI of 50-80%. Despite these returns, 60 million talented students graduate from high school every year without a viable way to pay for higher education. They can't get a loan and scholarships are rare. This discrepancy provides a huge opportunity for economic growth and investment.
In 2015 Brighter Investment supported the first high potential students in Ghana. The deal is: we pay for their higher education, and after graduating students repay our investors a percentage of their income, typically 25% for 6 years. After investing in a second cohort in 2016 and a third cohort in 2017, we can now confidently say that you should invest in our 2018 cohort because:
1. Repaying graduates show that our model works
2. You'll earn a predictable and attractive return
3. Your investment will change the world for the better
We have developed a product for accredited investors to invest in this value creating opportunity and share in the upside. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have questions about this offer.
1. Our model works
"I am currently working on a genetically modified cotton variety which produces an insecticide to bollworm..."
-Godslove Asare Boadu, Graduated Brighter Student
Over the last three years, we have supported 131 students in Ghana. Out of these the first 21 students have graduated, completed their internships and started repaying.
0% of our students have dropped out of university so far compared to a 6% dropout rate for the average student at our 6 partner universities.
For our graduates with a degree, the unemployment rate is 5%. This is half the unemployment rate of the average Ghanaian university graduate and 1/5th the unemployment rate of their total age group.
On average our working graduates earn 5 times as much as high school graduates without a degree.
Of the students that have secured employment, 100% are making repayments.
Since our students are not only outperforming their peers, but also our projections in every category, our first investors are expected to earn a better than projected ROI.
2. Earn an attractive return
Expected return and risk (calculated as the return standard deviation) projected for average university students repaying a percentage of their income. Projections are based on 20 years of historic data including historic fluctuations in exchange rates between developing countries and investors' currency .
Historic data for factors that drive your return, factors like income, unemployment and graduation rates, are easily obtainable. For example: partner universities provided us with historic dropout rates, the government with unemployment rates, employers with average earnings and financial journals with historic exchange rates. This data goes back 20 years making your return predictable and low volatility--even during periods of high inflation and volatile exchange rates.
This historic data is based on average students, while our selection method picks students that are expected to perform above average and we only support quality degrees in high demand. Consequently, our first graduated cohort is graduating faster, earning more, unemployed less and repaying more than the historic data projected.
Based on the aforementioned historic data, investors can expect a 9% ROI. If our students continue to outperform their average peers, this ROI will easily go up to 12-17%. Don't hesitate to ask us for details about our projections if you're interested!
3. Change the world
"I wish there was a way to extend the mentorship program to the whole university. I can boldly speak in public now and I do more extracurricular activities..."
- Bright Frimpong, Brighter Student
The more successful our students are, the higher your return. There are few investment opportunities where impact and financial performance are so closely aligned. For investors that reinvest distributions, every repaying student will support two new students, who in turn can support four students etc. Both the underlying value of the investment as well as the impact of the investment grow exponentially over time.
Youth unemployment in many developing countries already exceeds 30% and 2 billion additional people will be born in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia in the next decades. Together, we can pioneer a model that prepares these students to become leaders in science, engineering, medicine and business. When properly educated, these students increase their income 3-5x, live longer, pay more taxes, are more likely to educate their children, create 3 jobs for people with less education and overall break the cycle of poverty.
Conclusion
We have developed a data driven and proprietary selection algorithm that predicts students’ career potential. This allows us to partner with the brightest students most likely to generate returns for themselves and for our investors. We also provide students with a mentor to further enhance their career success. A combination of social, practical, and legal incentives are in place to ensure that students make their monthly repayments after graduation.
If you are an accredited investor and would like more information, please visit www.brighterinvestment.com/investors or contact Tyson, our Head of Investor Relations, at t.titensor@brighterinvestment.com.
The future is bright!