News
Jackfruit Network secures $5 million facility from TLG Capital with IDP Foundation guarantee
Kenyan school lender Jackfruit Network has secured a $5 million financing facility from TLG Capital, backed by an IDP Foundation guarantee, to scale lending to low-cost private schools.
By Propel Africa · 2025-11-27
Empower Africa reported on 27 November that Jackfruit Network has secured a $5 million financing facility. TLG Capital supplied the commercial debt, while IDP Foundation provided a guarantee. The guarantee was issued as a bank guarantee by Morgan Stanley and is backed by the foundation's endowment as underlying collateral.
What the company does
Jackfruit Network is Kenya-based and lends short-to-medium-term working-capital and project finance loans to low-fee private schools serving underserved communities. Many of those schools are women-led. Rob Alhadeff is the CEO.
Traction
The company works with around 750 partner schools, and expects to grow that to more than 1,500. The number of students reached is expected to rise from roughly 228,000 to over 500,000.
What the money is for
The facility will scale lending to low-cost private schools. The guarantee structure allows lending in Kenyan shillings, which protects borrowers from foreign-exchange risk. Isha Doshi, partner at TLG Capital, described it as combining Morgan Stanley's credit risk of AA- with the transformational impact of an SME. She also cited an estimated $331 billion SME financing gap in sub-Saharan Africa. Rob Alhadeff, the chief executive, said the structure achieved something "the whole investor ecosystem hadn't even done before".
At a glance
- Company: Jackfruit Network
- Raised: $5 million
- Type: Debt facility with guarantee
- Lender: TLG Capital
- Guarantor: IDP Foundation
- Based in: Kenya
- Markets: Kenya
- Key number: Around 750 partner schools