We are thrilled to announce that Chancen International is the 2026 winner of the F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact. This annual $150,000 award recognizes a social enterprise working to scale its impact on social or environmental problems around the world.
About Chancen International
Chancen International is a nonprofit organization transforming access to tertiary education and pathways to employment for underserved youth across Africa.
Headquartered in Rwanda and operating in Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, and beyond, Chancen addresses one of the region’s most persistent barriers to economic opportunity: the dearth of options for talented young people to finance post-secondary education. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, tertiary enrollment remains among the lowest in the world, with just 9% of young people enrolled compared to a global average of 38%. At the same time, an estimated $40 billion education financing gap prevents millions from accessing the skills needed to participate in an increasingly knowledge- and skills-based economy.
Chancen’s solution is built around Income Share Agreements (ISAs), an innovative financing model that enables students to pursue higher education without traditional barriers such as collateral requirements, guarantors, or fixed debt obligations. Students receive financing upfront and begin repayment only after securing employment and earning above a defined living wage. Repayments are tied to income and have a clear endpoint, creating a more equitable and accessible pathway to education.
Importantly, Chancen’s model extends beyond financing alone. The organization provides financial literacy training, career readiness support, leadership development, and an alumni network designed to help students successfully transition into the workforce. Chancen also partners with carefully selected educational and vocational training institutions that are evaluated not only on enrollment, but on graduation, employment, and inclusion outcomes.
As of 2026, Chancen has financed more than 10,000 students. Among its learners, 73% come from households earning less than $2 per day, and 85% come from rural areas, informal settlements, or townships. Outcomes to date include a 93% graduation rate, 74% formal employment within one year of graduation, and average earnings that exceed national median incomes by more than threefold. Ninety-seven percent of graduates remain in good standing on their repayment obligations, helping create a sustainable financing model that can support future generations of students.
Why We Are Excited About Chancen’s Potential for Impact at Scale
This year’s Selection Committee was impressed by Chancen’s performance across all dimensions of the Kirby Prize evaluation framework. Several characteristics were particularly noteworthy.
1. A Model Built Around Student Success
Many education financing systems place risk on students regardless of outcomes. Chancen has redesigned the model so that students, educational institutions, investors, and the organization itself are all aligned around one goal: student success.
Students repay only when they are earning. Partner institutions are selected and incentivized based on outcomes such as graduation and employment. Investors and Chancen succeed when students succeed. This alignment of incentives creates accountability throughout the system and helps ensure that financing translates into meaningful livelihood outcomes.
2. Strong Evidence of Meaningful and Attributable Impact
Chancen has demonstrated compelling outcomes for students who would otherwise face significant barriers to education and employment.
The organization combines internal performance data with external evaluation evidence showing that participants experience substantially stronger educational and employment outcomes than comparable non-participants. Students graduate at high rates, secure formal employment, and achieve significant gains in earnings and economic mobility. These outcomes are particularly noteworthy given the populations Chancen serves, including youth from low-income and historically excluded communities.
3. A Sustainable Approach to Expanding Opportunity
The Committee was particularly excited by Chancen’s ability to connect impact and sustainability.
Unlike traditional scholarship models that require continuous replenishment of philanthropic funding, Chancen’s repayment structure allows capital to be recycled and reinvested in future students. Strong repayment performance, combined with a blended capital model and earned revenue streams, creates the foundation for long-term growth while maintaining a focus on student outcomes.
4. The Potential to Shape an Emerging Field
Beyond its direct impact, Chancen is helping demonstrate what a new generation of education financing models can look like.
Tertiary education financing remains underdeveloped in many parts of the world, particularly for low-income populations seeking employable skills training. By proving the viability of outcome-oriented financing mechanisms and sharing lessons with investors, institutions, and policymakers, Chancen has the potential to expand the market for education financing and attract new sources of capital to the sector.
A Vision for Impact at Scale
Chancen’s vision extends well beyond the students it directly finances today.
Expansion. The organization is pursuing measured expansion across Africa, entering new markets through rigorous local analysis and partnerships that ensure the model is adapted to local educational systems, labor markets, and student needs. Its decentralized leadership structure allows country teams to tailor implementation while maintaining a shared commitment to outcomes.
Opening Markets. At the same time, Chancen is working to build the broader ecosystem needed to support sustainable education financing at scale. By demonstrating strong student outcomes, maintaining repayment performance, and engaging investors around the viability of income-based financing, the organization aims to catalyze greater investment in post-secondary education across the globe. Chancen co-founded the Global ISA Alliance, bringing together investors, educators, and advocates to set ethical standards and move toward establishing ISAs as a new and viable asset class.
Systems Change. Ultimately, Chancen seeks not only to finance opportunity for individual students, but also to help establish a new model for investing in human potential—one in which educational access, employment outcomes, and sustainable financing reinforce one another to unlock opportunity for millions of young people.
We hope you’ll continue to learn more about Chancen International by visiting their website and following updates on their work on LinkedIn and YouTube.