Adlai Wertman walked away from a successful Wall Street investment banking career. He then spent seven years as founder and CEO of Chrysalis, a nonprofit that empowers the homeless of Los Angeles to become economically self-sufficient.
A decade later I was at Chrysalis on Skid Row, listening to him share its success story. It is a story framed by his own evolution from the cutthroat bottom line culture of Wall Street, to the transformational space of Chrysalis, to his role as professor of social entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California.
That was back when I was a doctoral student at USC, juggling research and study with my day job as head of the first IB World School in Sudan. Despite the altruism and social commitment of the school’s founders, it would never have been possible to bring the level of education we were providing to the majority population of Khartoum.
Yet the question remained: how does an international school reconcile the contradictions of being a school that only the more affluent can afford in a socio-economic context of such poverty and basic need?
I remember Professor Wertman being adamant about an important principle: nonprofits are not synonymous with for-loss. Actually, the reverse is true. Nonprofits have to be financially astute. They run to tight margins and are subject not only to the scrutiny of their donors (or tuition paying parents) but also to considerable regulatory oversight, in most locations at least. They are driven by mission and context, and not by the bottom line: they exist to serve their social purpose.
The reconciliation of that contradiction in Sudan lay in our deep sense of purpose in what we were doing. We distilled it down to a simple statement that we literally carved into stone: Building a Better Sudan.
“The non-profit ethics that have dominated the sector for so long have been challenged by new players.”
As an IB World School, our purpose was social change through education. It was never about money, except in the sense of being responsible. It was never about profit or dividend: every Sudanese Pound was invested in the service of the mission. It was social entrepreneurship led by a belief in education as a powerful driver for change through our learners who would be inspired to make a difference.
Fast forward a decade and I see new and not-so-new tensions and contradictions in the international school landscape. The non-profit ethics that have dominated the sector for so long have been challenged by new players in the educational space.
“The expansion of the for-profit schools groups, has disrupted the educational ecosystem on a global scale.”
In truth, this article is probably 10 years too late. The overseas franchise models of private schools from the UK, the USA, Canada and Australia have not happened overnight. They have been long in the making, not least as their financial security has come under pressure in their home countries.
Likewise, the expansion of the for-profit schools groups, driven by venture capital investment and the goal of healthy returns, has disrupted the educational ecosystem on a global scale. They all have their motives and drivers, some of which intersect with contextual social good. But those whose primary drive is for financial return raise questions, particularly when one considers the continued expansion of such schools into new markets in the Global South.
- Do these schools contribute to the development of the local educational landscape or do they threaten it?
- Do they respect cultural fidelity, and the ethical imperative to honour context?
- If they espouse to be mission led, whose mission is it?
The transnational growth of international schools raises these questions and more. In some parts of the world they have been folded into the national conversation, the UAE being a case in point. However, there are other parts of the world where emerging markets are ripe for rapid expansion without the kinds of regulatory frameworks that ask questions about the purpose of the education these schools provide.
“There is enormous potential for the for-profit sector to play a significant role in the development of educational systems”
I was interviewed by a Brazilian journalist a few years ago about the growth of international schools in the country. I predicted expansion on a rapid scale and a crisis on the horizon. When external players enter the educational space, with local partners seeking the significant profit potential of expansion at massive scale in a country as large as Brazil, a question becomes inevitable: who is actually teaching your nation’s youth?
There is enormous potential for the for-profit sector to play a significant and lasting role in the development of educational systems around the world. However, that will only happen if it is an intentional driver at the heart of a committed social entrepreneurship mission in partnership with the host country nation.
If every for-profit international school saw itself as a social entrepreneurship enterprise first, with financial return as a by-product, just imagine the good that could be done.
Adlai Wertman moved from the profit fixation of Wall Street to a company that created opportunities for the homeless with a healthy bottom line intact. How can for-profit international schools and groups to do the same?