付不起MBA学费那就众筹吧 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.

一个帮助来自非洲和亚洲的MBA学生进入美国和欧洲顶级商学院就读的众筹平台，从一些机构和企业家那里筹集了1亿英镑资金，其中包括必发公司(Betfair)的联合创始人埃德雷(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是由欧洲工商管理学院(Insead)的3名毕业生共同创办的，领头的是出生于南非的首席执行官卡梅伦史蒂文斯(Cameron Stevens)。此前他们发现，尽管很多同学未来的潜在收入远高于平均水平，但仍被银行拒绝放贷。

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.

英国《金融时报》排行榜数据显示，毕业3年后，哈佛商学院(Harvard Business School) MBA毕业生的平均年薪为18万美元。但是，由于海外学生在美国没有信用记录，他们往往很难说服银行借钱给他们以支付6位数的学费。

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来自发展中国家，包括大约三分之一来自巴西、俄罗斯、印度和中国。据史蒂文斯称，来自这4个国家的很多学生在毕业后都会在国内找到工作，这使得他们的违约风险极低。

“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.”

“我们不在乎你来自上海、迪拜还是纽约，因为这是个全球市场，”他称，“过去，在伦敦留学的中国学生不得不留在英国找工作。如今，他们可以回到上海为谷歌(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.

创立8年来，Prodigy已经向来自92个国家的约2000名MBA学生发放了逾1.3亿美元的贷款，并以超过99%的还款率为傲。

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.

史蒂文斯称，MBA毕业生的一个较大吸引点是他们未来有望获得较高收入。他预计到2017年Prodigy将会每年发放10亿美元的贷款。

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.

史蒂文斯补充道，海外MBA学生获得资金的困难，也同样阻碍着希望去伦敦商学院(London Business School)深造的美国学生、或者希望去宾西法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)著名的沃顿商学院(Wharton School)就读的欧洲学生。“我们是一家全球化的社会企业，”他称。

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的市场通过一个上市的债券计划运行——贷款人购买一个债权组合的股份，支持某一所公认的商学院的一组学生，而非为个人提供信贷。

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

很多贷款人本身是MBA的校友，而全世界100所顶级商学院中的60所是该平台的合作方。

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.

针对学费的贷款也可能通过其他众筹平台申请，比如位于美国的Commonbond和SoFi，尽管它们都不是专门针对商学院市场的。

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获得的新融资包括科技风投公司Balderton Capital的1250万英镑的股权投资、多家天使投资机构以及瑞信(Credit Suisse)提供的8750万英镑贷款资本。这些融资将用于增加雇员和提高放贷能力。

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的合伙人蒂姆邦廷(Tim Bunting)和必发的埃德雷一样都是Prodigy董事会成员。他称，“卡梅伦及其团队打造了一个全球执行平台，让投资者有机会以任人唯贤的方式资助国际学生，以积极的姿态挑战现状。这对学生们是个巨大的胜利。”