At Partners for Equity, our approach is to back outstanding leaders in their very early days, commit funding for a few years and walk alongside them on their journey as they grow their organisations and attract additional funding. Ultimately, we aim to witness their progression to larger sources of support.
In 2016, Planet Wheeler Foundation (part of Partners for Equity) gave Food for Education its biggest ever grant which was $25,000 to provide lunches for 770 children per day. Flash forward to 2019 when they joined the Local Leaders Portfolio, their annual budget was $250,000 and they were providing 10,000 meals daily. Despite seeming unattainable, founder Wawira Njiru was ambitious in her vision of feeding 1 million children by 2025. What mattered to us was not just achieving this goal, but placing trust in a leader deeply connected to their community and capable of driving impactful change within.
Today, Food for Education provides meals to 165,000 school children daily, a number expected to reach 400,000 following a recent partnership announcement with Nairobi County.
With their budget now surpassing single-digit millions, we believe that it is the right time to use our limited capital to support the next mini-Food for Educations’ who are waiting in the wings. Witnessing Food for Education gain international acclaim, including Wawira being named UN Person of the Year 2021, and securing substantial grants from philanthropic giants like Co-Impact and MacKenzie Scott, speaks volumes about their success.
Food for Education’s accomplishments challenge the prevailing belief that local organisations cannot scale, demonstrate impact, or absorb significant grants. Our aspiration is that many leaders in our portfolio will follow a comparable trajectory.
Although bidding farewell to Food for Education from our portfolio is bittersweet, they will forever remain an integral part of the Partners for Equity family. We will continue to closely showcase and monitor their ongoing work.
