July 2024 Stories of Success in Education: Nexford Fadl Al Tarzi, at the time the CEO of a major digital media agency in the United Arab Emirates, was working with the producers of the 2015 World Governments Summit in Dubai when he started thinking about a new venture in education. One issue discussed at the Summit was the mismatch between the jobs that young people were trained for and the jobs available, including remote positions offered by global companies. Al Tarzi, always fascinated by the uses of technology to “massively impact some of [the world’s biggest] “It’s important that we problems,” suddenly saw a role for himself. position ourselves not as an American or African Three years later, he co-founded Nexford University, an institution, but as a online-only institution to fill this gap between students, global university.” jobs, and tertiary education institutions. Nexford relies FADL AL TARZI on open-source data to identify workforce trends and FOUNDER AND CEO AT NEXFORD designs appropriate courses. It has a no-frills model UNIVERSITY that helps keep costs low, allowing it to fulfill its goal of providing higher education at affordable cost to learners who want their education to meet their job needs. Nexford, which offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees programs, in addition to professional certificates and STORIES OF SUCCESS IN EDUCATION Page 2 courses, started with a focus on emerging markets and now is accredited in the United States, giving it a global 6,000 reach that helps account for its dynamic growth. For IFC, Nexford was an intriguing company, one that met IFC’s development impact goals around expanding young people's access to higher education enrolled students in and boosting student employability. In 2022, IFC provided its first financing, with a second round in 2023. Nexford, which now has close to 6,000 enrolled students in 110 countries, is committed to providing learners with what they need to thrive in the workplace, at a price point that is working. In this 110 countries story of success, we cover how Nexford is innovating the digital learning space and how IFC’s investments and network of relationships have facilitated the trends and determine the skills, tools, and technical university’s goal of providing an affordable and proficiency that employers are looking for. Universities market-aligned education. would then be able to take that knowledge and tailor their curricula accordingly. DATA-DRIVEN LEARNING After a few months, Tarzi realized that this idea was flawed. Most universities were not prepared to change As the disparity between what is taught in universities their course mix or methods to match insights gleaned and what employers are actually looking for grows, from external data. To achieve the impact he wanted, Nexford capitalizes on data that allows its educators Tarzi realized he would have to use that data himself to see and fill the gap. An experienced entrepreneur, and start his own online university, going directly to Tarzi had been involved with launching and leading the consumer. This would also make better use of the tech startups prior to Nexford. One of them, called data and better match ongoing employment needs. Socialeyez, was a social media listening tool that measured consumer perceptions toward brands, Nexford uses its open-source data directly to shape products, and governments. its educational offerings, so that its graduates gain the skills necessary to secure employment. Tarzi believes Tarzi and his co-founder, Mo Rayes, initially planned to “that is a fundamental difference between us and address the shortcomings of the for-profit education traditional schools.” Traditional schools base their sector by building software inspired by the social curricula on their own existing academic priorities, media tool and selling it to universities. The tool while Nexford continually adapts to teach the rapidly would use open-source data pulled from millions of changing skills that are needed now and in the future. job postings across the world to analyze workforce Page 3 Nexford “If we always have to rely on academics who have a Nexford degree. The school has avoided applying industry experience and academic experience to tell us for federal financial aid and does not offer student what we should be teaching,” says Tarzi, "then that's a loans, in part because of the added reporting and very subjective view of the world.” administrative costs, which in turn would force its tuition to rise. Nexford’s business model also makes the dynamics INNOVATING THE BUSINESS MODEL of tuition more accessible. For example, it includes a Before its launch, Nexford surveyed monthly payment model. “Maybe I can afford $10,000 10,000 people from around the globe to in tuition per year,” proposes Tarzi, “but I can only afford to pay it in monthly increments.” The flexible better understand students' expectations payment model allows students to make incremental for their educational experience. payments as needed, without the large up-front The survey found a massive disconnect between what payments that some universities require at the start of students wanted out of their educational investment a semester. and what universities thought they should provide. Nexford’s complementary goal is to create a “circular The survey showed that students go to university university” business model. It is launching a program predominantly to get a job or advance their careers, where, for every enrollment from a high-income and that the return on investment was measured country like the United States, a percentage of a based on employability. scholarship somewhere else in the world will be funded. Tarzi decided to reshape the university program to focus on employability and eliminate the amenities that raise costs at traditional universities, including the brick-and-mortar campuses and social aspects, which he dismisses as frills. “Parents don’t know what to do with their 18-year-olds, so they send them to a place that takes care of them,” he says. “You pay a huge fee to go there because of the libraries, research labs, sports club facilities, and huge administrative costs. We go after the audience that doesn’t want these things or simply cannot afford them. They just want the core plain vanilla experience: a high-quality education that’s focused, relevant, and flexible.” The result is a cost structure that enables much lower tuition. Most middle-income and working- FADL AL TARZI class students do not need to take out loans to get FOUNDER AND CEO AT NEXFORD UNIVERSITY STORIES OF SUCCESS IN EDUCATION Page 4 AUTOMATION AND AFFORDABILITY Nexford maintains ongoing relationships with employers and other entities that manage employment. Nexford considers itself a tech-enabled university. For example, it has a direct pipeline to Andela, the They’ve been embracing the potential of Artificial international job marketplace for software engineers. Intelligence (AI) to automate administrative processes Andela connects talent from emerging markets, that lower the cost of operations, to assist with course including people trained at Nexford, to NASDAQ-listed development, and soon with learner support functions. companies. “Functions that technology can do more efficiently than Community based initiatives represent another way humans, we do them using technology,” says Tarzi, Nexford wants to connect their students to the broader “(and) things that humans need to do, humans do.” world. For example, they’ve begun an initiative called Most of the automation so far has been in back- One Learner, One Tree, where for every student enrolled, office processes, because when Nexford was they plant a tree that the students track and receive a launched, the technology was focused there. As certificate for. Thus far, Nexford has planted more than the technology continues to advance, Nexford will 13,000 trees in its dedicated forest. take advantage to make automating processes more visible to students. AI will soon be deployed THE FUTURE OF THE IFC-NEXFORD for more personalized and assisted learning PARTNERSHIP experiences, as well as for student services such as course withdrawals and changes of learning paths. Nexford is currently collaborating with IFC to co-design The university can capture data throughout each a career services strategy for the university. Building additional automated process to continue optimizing upon IFC’s connections to directors of career services without compromising on the academic experience. at universities across the world, Nexford aims to learn how to expand its current employability support for students. “How are we going to help people find jobs THE NEXFORD IMPACT beyond helping them prepare for those jobs?” asks Tarzi. “If we can develop an objective model of what should be From its inception, Nexford was intended for a global taught, a model based on data that can scale globally, community. Analyzing other online learning platforms then the multiplier effect that it can have on social with university content, such as Coursera, Tarzi wanted mobility and economic mobility will be massive.” to “create a model that would actually scale globally because none of these universities were actually Tarzi talks about diversity in geopolitical terms: designed for a global audience.” Nexford is hoping to “It’s important that we position ourselves not as bring people in emerging markets up to a worldwide an American or African institution, but as a global standard so that when an employer in the United States university.” Nexford is in the process of expanding its hires a Nexford graduate, they will have the same level recruitment of learners in more advanced countries like of proficiency as someone local. Page 5 Nexford the United States primarily through a B2B model where it partners with employers and employer marketplaces. Nexford’s offerings have been designed modularly from scratch so employers can upskill their employees using only the modules that fill the specific skill gaps they have identified. Additionally, the University has piloted career pathway programs, which are typically six- month programs leading to specific jobs in partnership with employers across the world. In the end, the core Development Impacts offering at Nexford is not a degree program, but a higher education business model suited to a rapidly changing • Creating a streamlined, digitally connected world. internationally accredited, scalable education model focused on employability and affordability • Redesigning the tuition and payment models so many more students have access to quality education without loans • Enabling social and economic mobility by preparing learners for the global workforce STORIES OF SUCCESS IN EDUCATION Page 6 The IFC Connection WHY NEXFORD PARTNERED WITH IFC HOW THIS INVESTMENT IS HELPING Nexford appreciated the connections that IFC YOUNG PEOPLE SUCCEED AND THE has built with organizations across the globe. As COUNTRY’S ECONOMY GROW a startup looking to expand globally, Nexford Higher education at an affordable rate gives recognizes that connecting to a wider market and people in emerging economies the opportunities learning what skills are in demand is essential for social and economic mobility. In a rapidly to their education strategy. IFC is also “heavily evolving digital world, equipping young adults invested and committed to capacity building,” with technological literacy is the key to bolstering said Tarzi, and thus has offered continuing employability. At the end of 2023, Nexford had support for Nexford’s growth and innovation. 5,700 students enrolled: a 75 percent year-over- year increase from 2022. WHY IFC INVESTED IN NEXFORD As a global startup, Nexford focuses on creating WHAT IFC LOOKS FOR WHEN affordable education with high graduate PARTNERING WITH A PRIVATE PLAYER employment rates, without compromising on Follow through on promises, scalability with a quality. IFC wishes to increase educational strong record of success on its key performance opportunities in Africa and beyond for the sake goals, adaptability, sustainable development, of elevating the regional economy. Nexford’s high-quality user experience, and consistent accreditation efforts, continuous innovation, and quality, as well as employability, accreditation, ongoing orientation to development impact have and general economic benefit in higher education. justified further investment. Page 7 Nexford The people interviewed for this case study include: • Fadl Al Tarzi, founder and CEO at Nexford University • Juliana Guaqueta Ospina, senior education specialist at IFC • James Jobe, analyst, venture capital at IFC • Shamim Kazemi, Latin America lead, employability advisory services at IFC For more information, email Chris McCahan, Global Head of Education at IFC: cmccahan@ifc.org