Who Works With Us

An important competitive advantage of School Ventures lies in the high caliber of partners and contributors with whom the company works. These include:

Economist Intelligence Unit
The Economist Intelligence Unit is the world's foremost provider of country, industry and management analysis. Founded in 1946 when a director of intelligence was appointed to serve The Economist, the Economist Intelligence Unit is now a leading research and advisory firm with more than 40 offices worldwide. For nearly 60 years, the Economist Intelligence Unit has delivered vital business intelligence to influential decision-makers around the world. Our extensive international reach and unfettered independence make us the most trusted and valuable resource for international companies, financial institutions, universities and government agencies.

Microrate
MicroRate is the first rating agency specializing in the evaluation of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Its objective is to link MFIs with funding sources and in particular with international capital markets. MicroRate evaluations allow lenders and investors to measure risk and they thereby help to create the transparency without which financial markets cannot work. Over the past decade, MicroRate has analyzed over 300 MFIs in Latin America and Africa and other developing regions. This provides a unique basis of practical experience and of performance data – captured in an industry database- which MicroRate uses to determine trends and performance benchmarks.

Management Education Research Consortium
The Management Education and Research Consortium (M.E.R.C.) is a 5.01(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in the United States which was incubated by the World Bank. M.E.R.C. is working to lessen the shortage of management skills in poor countries by strengthening the capacity of local management schools. M.E.R.C. draws on a unique worldwide network of business schools known as the Global Business School Network (GBSN), as well as on the recently created Association of African Business Schools (AABS). M.E.R.C. can harness these networks to bring together mentoring teams and so share and replicate best practices in management education on a sustainable basis.