Peter Hinton

DPhil in Continuing Education

Thesis

A force for sustainable development? Financing affordable low cost primary schools in Africa and the role of impact investing.

Research abstract

The study aims to assess the extent of the opportunity to invest in low cost education in Africa and explore the benefits and challenges of impact investing in financing such low cost private education. The objectives include:

To assess the demand for finance from low cost schools

To identify what sources of finance could supply this need

To understand what models exist to finance low cost schools in low income countries 

To interrogate providers and recipients of impact investing finance to understand what are the benefits and challenges of this type of funding.

Supervisor(s)

Jonathan Michie, President of Kellogg College, University of Oxford

Alex Nicholls, Professor of Social Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

Biography

28 years of commercial experience in the UK and Africa. He is CEO of SDG which works with impact investors and financial institutions financial institutions in sub-Saharan Africa. He was formerly the founder of EBG a banking group based in Botswana with operations in Kenya and Rwanda . Prior to that, he was Head of Development for the Africa Banking Corporation, listed in Botswana .Prior to that he was with CDC where he was active in private equity investing and adding value to African financial institutions. Between 1989 and 1993, Peter worked with the board of directors of FT100 company BhS plc in strategy and planning.

Publications

Social Finance Ed Nicholls A, Paton R & Emerson J. Chapter on 'Investing for social impact - Direct foreign investment and private equity in Africa and South Asia' OUP, 2015.

Research interests

Impact investing, SME finance, affordable education, Africa, development, trust.