Scaling to 60+ countries, with no safety net

I’m excited to share my recent conversation on Spotify, where we dig into some of the most pressing questions in language assessment and edtech. As the host (Summer Long of Cathoven AI) put it, this episode “hits hard if you care about language assessment, AI grading, or scaling edtech globally.” We covered a range of topics, including […]

Global Zero – Data and Resources

Emerging and frontier markets have an urgent need for sustainable and impact investments to tackle economic, climate and societal challenges. As investors and advisors in these markets, we have long relied on numerous on-ground resources as well as “other people’s data” relating to sustainability issues around the world. Below are a just a few of […]

Black Swans and the Future of Learning and Work

China’s coronavirus outbreak–which given its severity and unpredictability should be considered a Black Swan event–is already revealing stark differences in the way schools, universities and workplaces are responding and the extent to which they are prepared for operational continuity and future growth. In fact, the crisis response is making the “future of learning and work” […]

Will the Rest of the World Eat Your Lunch?

As the US trade and technology war with China staggers on, the 2019-nCoV virus shuts down schools, and more people begin to question the sustainability of global integration, I looked at a few charts in search of a reality check. Here’s what I found. First, the overall trend in outbound foreign direct investment (FDI) shows […]

Investing in the Future of (Highly Skilled) Underemployment

Are the world’s best brains gainfully employed? Ask the barista with a PhD. Or the well-qualified international graduate with a Business Analytics Master’s Degree working in a series of unfulfilling part-time internships. Or the engineering graduate who is rejected by an applicant tracking system for a spelling error on her CV. I think we all […]

The Future of Work is in Emerging Markets

For many US and European companies and investors focused developing technologies and training for the future workforce, staying at home seems like a sensible option. After all, the US and Europe both have thriving, sophisticated education and labor markets within a supportive venture capital and private equity environment. But in a world where rising working-age […]

Tracking China’s Global Education Footprint

Is education an instrument of China’s soft power? If so, how can it be measured? After some review, there are four areas which I think warrant a deeper dive: Government-led efforts through Confucius Institutes University branch campuses set up offshore Internationally mobile tertiary students in universities around the world Chinese private investment into schools, education […]

Next in Emerging Markets: Confronting a Jobless Future

What does the concept of a jobless future–a world awash with robots and AI–mean for emerging markets that have yet to reach economic maturity? How will educational achievement in these countries help to shape this future of work? What new business models might emerge to get people employed? These questions are impossible to answer today, […]

Talent, Training and AI: How Asia is (Again) Emerging as the World’s Laboratory

There are three key variables that businesses, investors and educators must understand with respect to Asia’s future rise and its impact on the world’s industries and workers. One, the trajectory of Asia’s educational achievement from K12 through post-graduate education, including English language, STEM and other skills capabilities. As I have noted previously in this blog, […]

Investing in the World’s Idle Youth

Disconnected or idle youth as measured by NEET rates (defined as 18-24 year olds neither in employment nor education or training) can be a major determinant of economic stagnation, social unrest and investment risk. Unsurprisingly, the worst performers (based on OECD data) are often those with low educational attainment and a high degree of gender […]