Kaizenvest: Researching Underperforming Portfolio Schools in the Middle East

Saloni joined Kaizenvest, a private equity firm focused on impact investing in education across the Middle East and Asia, as a Private Equity Intern. The firm's portfolio included schools at various stages of performance, and some were not meeting expectations.

Her assignment was to take one underperforming school and understand why it was falling behind comparable institutions. The research question was straightforward but the answer required structured comparison: what were better-performing schools doing differently, and which of those differences were actually driving student enrollment and outcomes?

Working remotely, she gathered data from publicly available sources: school websites, education sector reports, and AI-assisted searches to ensure she was not missing relevant information. She built a comparison table across multiple schools, tracking curriculum offerings, technology infrastructure, lab facilities, hostel availability, geographic accessibility, and price points.

The findings pointed to a cluster of gaps. The underperforming school was offering a single curriculum, while higher-performing competitors offered multiple options including British curriculum tracks. The better schools had invested in smart classrooms, AI-assisted teaching tools, and well-equipped science labs. Practical infrastructure, including hostel facilities and accessible locations, also differentiated the stronger performers.

She presented her findings to her managers at Kaizenvest. The firm used the research to inform operational changes at the school, including efforts to recruit new teachers and invest in technology upgrades.