Can we make it work with a dozen schools? A hundred?

Posted: April 25th, 2014 | Author: Michael Goldstein | | No Comments »

From Inc Magazine:

The founders’ experiences add up to a master class for entrepreneurs working in the developing world. “Bridge is pioneering not only a business but an entire approach,” says Matt Bannick, managing partner at Omidyar Network. “I think they’ll have a profound impact that ultimately will enable us to provide much better education to so many people.”

….And, of course, Bridge only succeeds at scale by amortizing costs across many students. Bannick cites a study showing that over 30 years, 201 nonprofits scaled from 0 to $50 million. In that same period, tens of thousands of businesses had done so. “For-profit entities generate the capital to help scale,” he says.

Even when they had just two schools, the founders did everything with an eye toward how they would function with thousands. Bannick says it was Bridge’s ability to “innovate, replicate, scale” that persuaded Omidyar Network to become its first major investor, in 2009. Says Bannick, “Every step of the way they have been very thoughtful about, Do we have the systems to make it work with a dozen schools? With a hundred?”

Read the whole thing here.