In May 2021, Dow Jones’ Private Equity News published an op-ed (Education Reform Through a PE Lens – subscription required) recapping arecent position paper (Disrupting Education) from Darca Schools that outlined how we’re seeking to disrupt education through applying an investment lens to align disparate interests, promote innovation, and empower school leaders to orchestrate bold, transformtive change.
The contributed article, authored by Marc Rowan, cofounder and CEO of Apollo Global Management and Vice Chairman of Darca Schools, and Dr. Gil Pereg, founding CEO of Darca Schools, highlighted the challenges confronting investors and business executives trying to cope with an acute skills gap facing their business interests. Both the position paper and the article discuss how education has to evolve to address these challenges and the parallels between sophisticated private equity strategies and the Darca Network’s model for change to transform failing schools in urgent need of financial resources across Israel’s peripheral communities.
It Starts with Management
Darca was founded on the premise that school principals are the cornerstone of any effort to transform an institution. This is a point that became obvious amid the pandemic as administrators had to react in real time—without a playbook—to conceive, implement, and refine a remote-learning environment that can replicate in-person lessons and accommodate a whole range of stakeholders.
Alignment of Interests: A Critical Advantage
Without an alignment of interests even the best ideas fall flat. As Darca Schools has grown, our scale also allows us to serve as a buffer to help our principals focus on their jobs, while the larger organization works directly with education ministries, local municipalities, teachers’ unions, parent associations and other constituencies.
Economies of Scale: (Growth + Impact)2
As the Darca Network was rolled out, iterated, and ultimately proved out its model, we replicate what works and apply the framework to other failing schools facing similar challenges. It’s not unlike a growth strategy for a restaurant or retail concept that has established its brand in a local geography and then aggressively pursues new-store growth in adjacent markets.
As the position paper emphasizes, the only difference between the Darca investment and most traditional asset classes is that the payoff takes form as employers are able to find the skillsets necessary to pursue their own ambitious moonshots; a citizenry with the agency and expedience to determine right from wrong; and a society equipped and eager to take on the biggest challenges of our time.
