BMZ Engagement Award for Chancen International CEO Batya Blankers: How Fair Education Financing Creates Opportunities for Young People in Africa

Chancen International combines innovative education financing with concrete career opportunities, connecting African talent with local and international labour markets

For her long-standing professional commitment to educational equity and economic opportunity, Batya Blankers, CEO and co-founder of Chancen International, has been honoured with the 2026 Engagement Award from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The award recognises her personal commitment to advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly her efforts to enable young people from low-income households to access higher education.

The award in the category “Long-standing professional engagement” was presented by Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Reem Alabali-Radovan. In his laudatory speech, Volker Meier, Head of the Principles Department at the BMZ, said: “You make it possible for people who have traditionally been excluded from higher education to attend universities and colleges – people from low-income households, rural areas or women. […] Through your determination and vision, you bring us a little closer to the ideal of educational equity, degree by degree.”

For Chancen International, an organisation rooted in communities across the African continent, the award highlights a question that is crucial both to Africa’s future and to international labour markets: How can young people fulfil their potential when they lack the financial means to access education and professional training?

The need for action is significant: According to the World Bank, fewer than nine per cent of young people in sub-Saharan Africa have access to tertiary education.

Financing Education, Passing on Opportunities

Chancen International addresses this challenge directly. Headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda, the non-profit organisation finances education and training for young people in various African countries who would otherwise be unable to afford further education or university studies. The model is designed so that students do not have to make any payments upfront. Only after graduation, once they are employed and earning a sufficient income, do they begin making income-contingent repayments. These repayments are then used to finance education for the next generation.

“Talent is everywhere. But the opportunities to develop that talent are not,” says Batya Blankers, CEO of Chancen International. “We do not just want to finance education. We want to enable young people to earn their own income, support their families and shape their own futures.”

Since its foundation in Rwanda in 2018, the model has already financed the education of more than 11,000 young people across Africa, many of them women from rural communities affected by poverty. According to Chancen International, the model can increase participants’ lifetime earnings by up to five times and generates an impact of US$46 for every US$1 invested.

“Chancen International is doing important work by using its financing model to make education more accessible and create concrete career opportunities. Especially in light of Africa’s growing young population, more approaches like this are needed,” says Hanna Kleber, Chairwoman of Voice4Africa. The KLEBER GROUP initiative supports Chancen International in raising awareness of its innovative model in German-speaking markets.

Today, the organisation operates in Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa and works with more than 40 carefully vetted education partners. According to the organisation, around 75 per cent of its graduates secure meaningful formal employment after completing their education.

From Education to Employment

Chancen International goes a step beyond traditional education support. Training and education take place in the participants’ home countries and are aligned with the specific needs of the labour market. The organisation specifically finances university programmes and vocational training in sectors facing skills shortages, including business, logistics, technology, healthcare, hospitality and tourism. All education partners are carefully assessed and selected according to strict criteria. Education is complemented by career counselling, financial literacy and continuous support.

The story of Abigael Shahenza from Kenya illustrates how this approach can translate into concrete career opportunities. She initially could not afford higher education. Through Chancen International, she completed hospitality training at the TASK Catering Training Institute in Nairobi and also learned German. After graduating, she secured a position with a German cruise company. Today, her income enables her to provide a secure future for her two daughters.

Cooperation with international companies also creates new pathways from education into employment. Chancen International supports young professionals in gaining practical experience and accessing international employment opportunities.

Opportunities for African and International Employers

The model therefore addresses two interconnected developments: It creates qualified employment opportunities in the countries where young people are educated while also opening pathways for those whose qualifications and language skills are in demand internationally.

Healthcare, technical professions and tourism in particular offer a wide range of opportunities. Skilled workers are not only needed in Germany. In African home markets, graduates can also find attractive career prospects with the qualifications they have gained. Where international employment opportunities are available, additional language skills and practical experience can be acquired as needed. This also benefits international companies seeking qualified young professionals.

“Our goal is not to take young people away from their home countries. We want to give them genuine choices,” says Blankers. “A good education can open doors to a career in their own country as well as to international professional opportunities. What matters is that young people can decide for themselves which path they want to take.”

Chancen International therefore pursues an approach that connects education, employment and economic opportunity. When young people gain access to skills and income, the benefits extend beyond individual lives. Families, businesses and local economies also benefit.

A Model That Sustains Itself

A key element of the Chancen model is its long-term impact: repayments from former programme participants help finance the education of additional young people. In this way, what begins as a one-time investment in education becomes a cycle capable of creating new opportunities for successive generations.

According to the organisation, 97 per cent of graduates currently meet their repayment obligations reliably. Some 300 programme participants have already repaid their education financing in full.

By 2029, Chancen International aims to expand its financing to a total of 60,000 young people, which, according to the organisation’s calculations, could generate approximately US$6.1 billion in additional lifetime earnings.

The programmes are funded through foundation grants, government funding programmes and private-sector investment. The Swiss UBS Optimus Foundation and the German KLETT Group, for example, are long-term investors in the innovative education financing model.

The BMZ award for South Africa-born Batya Blankers, who herself studied in Germany as a young woman through an income-contingent education financing model, shines a light on an approach that goes far beyond traditional development assistance: Chancen International invests in young people – and therefore in Africa’s economic and social future.

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