Businesses funding systems, not schools

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Business leaders often fund schools. In Colombia, a group of them did something rarer: they organised, for the long haul, to strengthen the public education system itself.

Empresarios por la Educacion is a business-led, non-partisan network that does not run a chain of private schools but instead produces evidence, trains school leaders and shapes the national conversation on education, working with whichever government is in power.

THE PLACE
Columbia

THE INVESTMENT
Independent knowledge, leadership and advocacy

THE WIN

1,400+ school leaders trained

THE PROBLEM

Colombia's public education system faces deep challenges: uneven quality, weak infrastructure, and large gaps between rural and urban, rich and poor.

Reform is also hostage to short political cycles, with priorities shifting each time government changes. What has often been missing is not ideas but continuity: independent evidence to guide decisions, strong school leadership, and a constituency that keeps education high on the national agenda regardless of who is in office.

TAKING ACTION

Under the vision of businessman Nicanor Restrepo, a group of Colombian business leaders created Empresarios por la Educacion in 2002, not to build their own schools but to support the public system.

The foundation works on three fronts: generating knowledge, evidence and data so decisions are better informed; advocacy, keeping education a national priority and shaping public policy; and direct work with schools, above all through school leadership.

Its flagship programme, Rectores Lideres Transformadores, develops principals and school leaders over two years across personal, pedagogical and administrative dimensions. It is deliberately non-partisan, working with the government of the day. Andrea Escobar Vila is its executive director.

INVESTMENT SUCCESS!

Over more than two decades, Empresarios por la Educacion has trained over 1,400 principals and coordinators through Rectores Lideres Transformadores, across dozens of education secretariats.

An independent impact evaluation found the programme drove change at the personal, institutional and community levels, and participating schools have recorded improvements in national Saber test results, including gains in secondary mathematics.

The foundation reports strengthening the management of 82 education secretariats, reaching indirectly around 72.6 percent of national enrolment, contributing technical input to draft education laws, and publishing a recurring national Opinion Survey on Education that tracks public commitment to the sector. Its work has been recognised by the OECD. 

KEY WINS

1,400+ school leaders trained through Rectores Lideres Transformadores 

82 education secretariats strengthened, reaching ~72.6% of national enrolment indirectly 

20+ years shaping Colombian education policy (since 2002) 

WHY INVESTMENT WORKED

Independence and continuity

A standing, non-partisan network outlasts political cycles and can hold a consistent line on quality.

Leadership as leverage

Investing in principals, not just the classroom, changes whole schools; the leader shapes the culture that shapes learning.

Evidence as a public good

Rigorous studies, data tools and a national opinion survey give the whole sector a shared factual base.

Business credibility, public purpose

Convening power and management know-how from the private sector, directed at the public system.

Regional and national reach

Working through education secretariats multiplies impact far beyond any single school.

Advocacy that shifts the agenda

Campaigns and public opinion measurement keep education in the national conversation.

SCALE AND SPREAD

Empresarios por la Educacion works regionally across Colombia while keeping a national vision, mobilising the leadership, knowledge and philanthropic resources of the business sector behind public education from early childhood to secondary.

It partners with the Ministry of National Education, the British Council, and companies and foundations such as Promigas and Fundacion Corona, and has begun using data and AI tools to widen access to educational information.

The Rectores Lideres Transformadores model has been picked up by local governments, including a relaunch in Medellin. 

PARTNERS AND PHILANTHROPY

The foundation is itself a vehicle of business philanthropy, channelling the resources and leadership of Colombian companies into the public system.

It works in alliance with the Ministry of National Education, the British Council, and partners including Promigas, Fundacion Corona and the national business association ANDI. Its model is to articulate public and private effort rather than substitute for the state.

HEALING CLASSROOMS AT A GLANCE

WHERE

Colombia (national, with regional presence)

FOUNDED

2002

LED BY

Fundacion Empresarios por la Educacion; founded under Nicanor Restrepo; executive director Andrea Escobar Vila

FOCUS

Public education system strengthening; school leadership, evidence and advocacy

CORE IDEA

A business-led, non-partisan network that supports the public system rather than replacing it

HEADLINE RESULT

1,400+ school leaders trained; 82 secretariats strengthened; 20+ years of continuity

APPROACH

Knowledge generation, advocacy, and direct school-leadership work 

RECOGNITION

OECD; partnerships with the Ministry of Education and British Council

PHILANTHROPY

Business philanthropy; partners include Promigas, Fundacion Corona and ANDI

Read more from our Education Investment Storybank