Irene Pritzker, Chair and Co-Founder of the IDP Foundation on Financing Low-Cost Schools and Unlocking Education Access in Africa

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In this episode of the Do One Better Podcast, host Alberto Lidji speaks with Irene Pritzker, Chair and Co-Founder of the IDP Foundation and author of The School in the Market. The conversation explores how innovative financing models can expand access to quality education in underserved communities, with a focus on Ghana and Kenya.

Pritzker shares the origin story behind the foundation’s work, which began with a visit to Ghana and a revealing encounter with informal, low-cost private schools serving families who lacked viable public education options. These schools, often founded by local entrepreneurs, operate in challenging conditions yet meet a critical need. Despite strong demand from parents, they were largely excluded from traditional financial systems due to perceived risk, lack of collateral, and limited formal business training.

What followed was the creation of a new model: combining microfinance with targeted training in financial literacy and school management. By partnering with local financial institutions, the IDP Foundation developed a system of small, structured loans paired with capacity-building support. The results were striking. Schools improved their infrastructure incrementally, repayment rates reached approximately 98 percent, and student outcomes began to improve.

The model has since scaled significantly, reaching hundreds of thousands of students and expanding beyond Ghana into Kenya. Importantly, it has also shifted perceptions within the financial sector. Institutions that once dismissed these schools as too risky are now beginning to recognize them as viable clients and a meaningful opportunity for both impact and return.

The conversation highlights the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors. Rather than viewing low-cost private schools as competitors to government systems, Pritzker argues they should be seen as complementary, particularly in regions where public provision falls short. Governments, she notes, are increasingly engaging with the model, intrigued by both the data and the potential for improved learning outcomes.

Finally, Pritzker shares insights from her broader philanthropic philosophy. She underscores the value of staying nimble, keeping governance structures lean, and focusing on interventions that can unlock larger systems change. Above all, she encourages funders and practitioners to identify overlooked opportunities where relatively small, strategic investments can catalyze significant and lasting impact.

This episode offers a compelling look at how finance, entrepreneurship, and education can intersect to create scalable solutions for one of the world’s most pressing challenges.

About Irene Pritzker

Irene Pritzker co-founded the IDP Foundation, Inc. with her daughter, Liesel Pritzker in 2008. Motivated by visiting Ghana and seeing how local schools were often just a small group of children gathered around a tree with a blackboard attached to it, Irene wondered if it would be possible to successfully provide a business loan to schools that were serving the poorest families in Ghana. It seemed as if no one else was taking on the risk of lending to low-fee private schools.

After a lot of hard work, IDPF became one of the few willing to do so. And the multi-faceted IDP Rising Schools Program is proving to be a viable and sustainable model that can be replicated around the world.

After a successful pilot in Ghana with 105 schools with an initial enrolment of 27,000 children, the program continues to grow and the model replicated, expanding with new partners into new countries, reaching over 1,000 schools, serving over 200,000 children.

In addition to program development, Liesel and Irene actively work to mission-align the foundation endowment’s investment strategy – particularly incorporating alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals.

As an advocate for sustainable and market-driven solutions, Irene is frequently invited to share the work of the IDP Rising Schools Program at the United Nations and other international forums focused on education. And she’s also often requested to share her investment strategy with the rapidly increasing global interest in impact investing.

In 2010, the Foreign Policy Association awarded Irene the Global Philanthropy Award, and in 2012 the IDP Foundation, Inc. was granted special consultative status to the United Nations.