Global Action Platform and KPMG International Launch Initiative for Shared Prosperity with Global Shared Value Award™

At the Global Action Summit, hosted by Fareed Zakaria (CNN), Global Action Platform, in association with KPMG International presented the 2016 Global Shared Value Award to Bridge International Academies for emerging small to medium enterprises for their work over the past year in Kenya.  

The Global Shared Value Award recognizes and encourages corporations to address major societal challenges through innovative business strategy, that is, to create “shared value.”  The award promotes private sector engagement and innovation that improve the quality of life and build prosperity for companies, individuals, communities, regions, and the world.

The award is presented annually at the Global Abundance Dinner, which serves as the closing ceremony of the Global Action Summit. 

The stated mission of Bridge International Academies is “to provide every child with the chance to have a high-quality primary education regardless of their family’s income—in a nutshell, “knowledge for all.”  Bridge International Academies has developed a scalable, sustainable solution for providing quality primary education for children of 700M families living on less than $2/day.

In selecting Bridge International Academies, the independent award panel noted the company’s outstanding record in reconceiving education for a new market over the past year in Kenya; improving gender equality through education that serves male and female students equally; enabling local cluster development through training of local teachers and educational leaders; and a strong management commitment to the principles and metrics of shared value business strategy.

Bridge International Academies is the world's largest education innovation company, empowering communities to deliver a world-class education accessible to all. Bridge strives to support its teachers in providing engaging lessons to the more than 100,000 pupils who attend its nursery and primary schools across Africa and Asia. 

Bridge is data-driven and technology-enabled. Its model leverages research, technology, and data analysis in order to drive continuous improvement across all aspects of operations, ensuring its pupils receive the world-class education needed to progress and thrive. Bridge uses its expertise in lesson design, teacher training and support, and software development to partner with communities, governments and NGOs to strengthen education systems across the world.

“We are honoured to receive this prestigious award to recognise our 100,000 children in Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia, and India who are learning to become confident adults, ready to achieve their dreams and make their own mark on the world.  This award highlights that when communities, companies, governments and families work together to truly generate shared value, that everything is possible,” said Jay Kimmelman, CEO and Co-Founder of Bridge International Academies.

Bridge International Update

Bridge International Academies has now expanded its educational services beyond Africa to India, opening four high quality, vibrant community schools with 485 pupils. These were set up with physical infrastructure support from the local government.  The parents in this region using Bridge schools are mostly agricultural labourers and daily wage earners living on an income of INR 8000 a month.  Bridge follows the national curricular framework and adheres to the Andhra Pradesh syllabus. Bridge’s social enterprise approach, not only provides education to low income students, but also recruits and trains teachers and managers from the neighborhoods it serves.  Although Bridge has only been in India for a short time, the early indicators have been very positive.

“At this critical transition in the national and global economy, Global Action Platform is honored to work with KPMG International in the presentation of this Award,” states Dr. Scott T. Massey, Founding Chairman and CEO.  “Our international alliance of universities and businesses are working to create scalable, sustainable solutions for abundant food, health, and prosperity for every person.  We see the Global Shared Value Award as an important way to advance these goals.  KPMG brings tremendous thought leadership and analytics that can deepen our understanding of shared value and help us expand its impact.”

“KPMG International is excited to be working with the Global Action Platform to recognize excellence in creating shared value. Business has a critical role to play, in partnership with civil society, governments and the development community in working towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Creating shared value, which is good news for business and the community, is an essential way of building towards the achievement of the SDGs” said Timothy A.A. Stiles, Global Chair of International Development Assistance Services, and KPMG.

About Global Action Platform 

Global Action Platform is the leading university-business alliance to advance scalable, sustainable solutions for abundant food, health, and prosperity.  Global Action Platform contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goals 1-3 and serves as the global think tank and convener for oneC1TY, a twenty-acre innovation park in Nashville, TN and as strategic global NGO partner for the Global Partnership for Sustainable Solutions-IPEU rural development project in the Philippines. Global Action Platform ongoing program activities are organized in four operating areas:  CONVENE:  a series of summits and forums for global leaders to build consensus for action; CHALLENGE:  impact investment funds to advance transformative, scalable business solutions; CONNECT:  online working groups and data analytic tools; and COMMUNICATE:  a series of annual publications, online educational and investment platforms, and social media broadcasts.  The ultimate goal is to create a world of abundance for all people, so that every single individual has a chance to thrive. http://globalactionplatform.org. 

About the Global Action Summit

The Global Action Summit, hosted by Fareed Zakaria, is the most dynamic and innovative an annual forum focused on food, health, and prosperity for today’s global leaders.  The aim of the Summit is to create, guide and facilitate leadership initiatives. Summit participants include senior-level business leaders, research scientists, and government officials, leaders of global agencies, NGO directors, and Summit Fellows.

About KPMG International

KPMG is a global network of professional services firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. KPMG operates in 155 countries and has 174,000 people working in member firms around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International Cooperative ("KPMG International"), a Swiss entity. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such.

About KPMG’s International Development Assistance Services (IDAS) practice

KPMG’s IDAS professionals are among the most experienced providers of services to the public and development sectors in countries and regions where economies and finances are emerging.  With local expertise in member firms worldwide, KPMG IDAS professionals work closely with emerging market stakeholders – government, civil society and private sector – to create sustainable change and effective, accountable service delivery. KPMG’s IDAS practice encompasses services in four major areas: Enhancing Impact, Ensuring Value-for-Money, Driving Accountability, and Advancing Service Delivery. 

For more information, please visit: www.kpmg.com/idas & www.bridgeinternationalacademies.com