The Xolani Gwala Show

We benchmark against Singapore for maths and against the UK for literacy.

— Stacey Brewer, SPARK Schools

We don’t screen children on academic performance… it’s first-come-first-served…

— Stacey Brewer, SPARK Schools

No-one internationally are doing what we’re doing in terms of quality at this price point.

— Stacey Brewer, SPARK Schools

Stacey Brewer cofounded SPARK Schools in 2012.

SPARK Schools currently has 15 campuses in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

The company has an interesting funding model, attracting capital from non-profits focussing on “high impact philanthropy” and from for-profit “impact” investors.

Brewer is a graduate of the Gordon Institute of Business Science (Gibs) where the original concept for SPARK Schools was developed.

South Africa consistently ranks as having one of the worst performing education systems in the world - SPARK Schools was built on the belief that quality and affordability are not mutually exclusive when it comes to excellent education.

I am a SPARK scholar, and I'm going to university! pic.twitter.com/XueBny7sYt

— SPARK Schools (@SPARKSchools) June 12, 2018

The Money Show’s Bruce Whitfield interviewed Brewer for his weekly “ShapeShifter” feature.

Listen to the interview in the audio below (and/or scroll down for more quotes from it).

It costs [SPARK Schools] about the third of what an elite private school would cost to open…

— Stacey Brewer, SPARK Schools

Once parents see SPARK they’re absolutely sold… Our biggest form of marketing is word-of-mouth…

— Stacey Brewer, SPARK Schools

…There’s no opportunity for a child to be left behind [at SPARK Schools]…

— Stacey Brewer, SPARK Schools

We’ve doubled in growth every year [in terms of enrolment]…

— Stacey Brewer, SPARK Schools

Parents are struggling to pay…

— Stacey Brewer, SPARK Schools

The calibre of people we attract is becoming better and better.

— Stacey Brewer, SPARK Schools

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