付不起MBA學費那就衆籌吧 Crowdfunder raises 100m for African and Asian MBA students

A crowdfunding platform helping MBA students from Africa and Asia to attend top US and European business schools has raised 100m from a group of institutions and entrepreneurs, including Betfair co-founder Ed Wray.

一個幫助來自非洲和亞洲的MBA學生進入美國和歐洲頂級商學院就讀的衆籌平臺，從一些機構和企業家那裏籌集了1億英鎊資金，其中包括必發公司(Betfair)的聯合創始人埃德雷(Ed Wray)。

Prodigy Finance was co-founded by three Insead business school graduates, led by South African-born chief executive Cameron Stevens, after discovering that many classmates had been refused bank finance despite their higher than average future earnings potential.

Prodigy Finance是由歐洲工商管理學院(Insead)的3名畢業生共同創辦的，領頭的是出生於南非的首席執行官卡梅倫史蒂文斯(Cameron Stevens)。此前他們發現，儘管很多同學未來的潛在收入遠高於平均水平，但仍被銀行拒絕放貸。

The average salary for an MBA graduate from Harvard Business School is $180,000 three years after graduation, according to FT rankings data. But overseas students often struggle to persuade banks to lend them the money to pay the six-figure course fees because they lack a US credit record.

英國《金融時報》排行榜數據顯示，畢業3年後，哈佛商學院(Harvard Business School) MBA畢業生的平均年薪爲18萬美元。但是，由於海外學生在美國沒有信用記錄，他們往往很難說服銀行借錢給他們以支付6位數的學費。

Three quarters of Prodigy’s borrowers come from developing world countries, including about a third from Brazil, Russia, India and China, many of whom find jobs in their home countries after graduation, making them extremely low risk, according to Mr Stevens.

Prodigy的借款人有四分之三來自發展中國家，包括大約三分之一來自巴西、俄羅斯、印度和中國。據史蒂文斯稱，來自這4個國家的很多學生在畢業後都會在國內找到工作，這使得他們的違約風險極低。

“We don’t care if you move from Shanghai, Dubai or New York because it is a global market,” he said. “In the past, someone coming from China to study in London would have to stay in the UK to find work. Now they can return to work for Google in Shanghai.”

“我們不在乎你來自上海、迪拜還是紐約，因爲這是個全球市場，”他稱，“過去，在倫敦留學的中國學生不得不留在英國找工作。如今，他們可以回到上海爲谷歌(Google)工作。”

Prodigy has processed more than $130m of loans for about 2,000 MBA students in 92 countries since it launched eight years ago and boasts repayment rates in excess of 99 per cent.

創立8年來，Prodigy已經向來自92個國家的約2000名MBA學生髮放了逾1.3億美元的貸款，並以超過99%的還款率爲傲。

A big attraction of MBA graduates is their higher future earnings potential, according to Mr Stevens, who predicts that Prodigy will be processing $1bn of loans a year by 2017.

史蒂文斯稱，MBA畢業生的一個較大吸引點是他們未來有望獲得較高收入。他預計到2017年Prodigy將會每年發放10億美元的貸款。

The problem for overseas MBA students getting funding also hits Americans wishing to study at London Business School or Europeans with a place at the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School, Mr Stevens adds. “We are a global social enterprise,” he said.

史蒂文斯補充道，海外MBA學生獲得資金的困難，也同樣阻礙着希望去倫敦商學院(London Business School)深造的美國學生、或者希望去賓西法尼亞大學(University of Pennsylvania)著名的沃頓商學院(Wharton School)就讀的歐洲學生。“我們是一家全球化的社會企業，”他稱。

Prodigy’s marketplace operates through a listed bond programme, in which lenders buy a stake in a package of debt supporting a group of students from a recognised business school rather than offering credit to individuals.

Prodigy的市場通過一個上市的債券計劃運行——貸款人購買一個債權組合的股份，支持某一所公認的商學院的一組學生，而非爲個人提供信貸。

Many of those lending money are MBA alumni themselves and 60 of the world’s 100 top business schools are partners on the platform.

很多貸款人本身是MBA的校友，而全世界100所頂級商學院中的60所是該平臺的合作方。

Loans for course fees are possible through other crowdfunding platforms, such as US-based Commonbond and SoFi, although neither of these specialise in the business school market.

針對學費的貸款也可能通過其他衆籌平臺申請，比如位於美國的Commonbond和SoFi，儘管它們都不是專門針對商學院市場的。

Prodigy’s new financing, consisting of 12.5m of equity investment from Balderton Capital, a technology venture capital company, and various angel investors plus 87.5m in loan capital from Credit Suisse, will fund staffing increases and boost lending capacity.

Prodigy獲得的新融資包括科技風投公司Balderton Capital的1250萬英鎊的股權投資、多家天使投資機構以及瑞信(Credit Suisse)提供的8750萬英鎊貸款資本。這些融資將用於增加僱員和提高放貸能力。

Tim Bunting, a partner at Balderton Capital, who along with Mr Wray are taking a seat on the Prodigy board, said: “Cameron and his team have created a global execution platform that gives investors the opportunity to fund international students in a meritocratic fashion that positively challenges the status quo. This is a huge win for the students.”

Balderton Capital的合夥人蒂姆邦廷(Tim Bunting)和必發的埃德雷一樣都是Prodigy董事會成員。他稱，“卡梅倫及其團隊打造了一個全球執行平臺，讓投資者有機會以任人唯賢的方式資助國際學生，以積極的姿態挑戰現狀。這對學生們是個巨大的勝利。”