Practus’ assisted Project Curiosity in increasing social impact by 85% on the existing base of equity funding from sponsors and reducing cash burn from a peak of $90,000 per month to $16,000 per month.
Client Name | ROI | Industry | Ownership | Management | No. of Employees | Size | Project Duration |
Project Curiosity | 5.4x | Social Enterprise (Education) | Fortune 100 Corporation’s Social Impact Fund | Professional | ~50 | ~$1 million | 24 months |
About The Company
Project Curiosity is a social enterprise funded by the social impact fund of Fortune 100 corporation, providing after-school learning enhancement solutions to kids from underprivileged families. The company impacts the lives of ~8,500 kids in the age group of 5-12 years.
Practus’ Role
- Took ownership of the finance/accounts function.
- Implemented IT tools for tracking student and teacher attendance, new enrolments and drop-outs.
- Delivered center level P&L and cashflow within the first 3 months of engagement.
- Shut non-performing plants with poor future ability to scale and re-directed grants to more viable communities.
- Automated linkage of center-level operations data with financial reporting software.
- Guided business teams to improve business planning and forecasting capabilities.
- Strict control on costs and cash outflows, in alignment with approved budgets.
- Provided monthly dashboard to donors and project sponsors, boosting marketing teams’ ability to raise funding from existing donors.
- Managed investor relations with impact fund representatives and directors.
Impact Delivered
- Increased social impact by 85% on the existing base of equity funding from sponsors.
- Raised $4 million in Series “B” equity funding from CSR arms of large corporations.
- Improved ratio of profit-making:break-even:loss-making centers from 20:25:55 to 60:25:15.
- Reduced cash burn from a peak of $90,000 per month to $16,000 per month.
- Negotiated pay-per-use model for the use of learning tablets, reducing Capex requirement by $1 million.
- Created profit-share remuneration structures for micro-entrepreneurs (teachers); helped create a financial and social impact stake for them in scaling curiosity’s business.