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Building a better future with Cogna



Better work and education

“Education is a human right for all throughout life and access must be matched by quality.” – UNESCO*

We are currently in the midst of a ‘learning crisis’, with some 617 million children and adolescents worldwide not achieving minimum proficiency levels in reading and mathematics, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). Along with a lack of access to school and a failure to retain children in school, the poor quality of education in the classroom is a major concern.

There is also a problem with poor quality employment which the International Labour Organisation has described as the main issue for global labour markets, with millions of people forced to accept inadequate working conditions.

We seek to invest in companies that are delivering solutions to improve working conditions and educational attainment. However, this has proved to be a challenging area in which to find investable ideas, but we continue to search for impactful companies that are making a difference. Here’s one example of how we have invested some of the fund’s assets.



Building a better future with


Cogna Educacao

Cogna** provide quality and affordable education to place lower-income students in a better position to enter the public university system. Founded in 1966, Cogna is the largest private educational company in Brazil. Generally speaking, affluent children in Brazil attend expensive private schools and progress into public universities, which creates a barrier for less-affluent children. In the past, the Brazilian government would help through grants and loan programmes, but this is no longer the case. As the government is no longer able to fill this gap, Cogna has become a more affordable and effective private option.

Cogna offers better access to education in a country where only 17% of 25-34 year-olds have university degrees (Vs 43% average in the OECD). They educate two million students across Brazil and reach 967 municipalities via their distance learning initiatives – improving access to higher education for students living in more rural areas. Students can access web lessons and discussion forums through a virtual learning environment, meaning that access to education is less restricted by geographical location. Cogna’s provision of education aligns most closely to Goal 4 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - quality education.

To read more about how Cogna is making a positive impact on the lives of people around the world, visit their website.

The value and income from a fund’s assets will go down as well as up. This will cause the value of your investment to fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you originally invested.

*UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

**Information sourced from company literature