Hardgrave: mission clarity

US-born Steve Hardgrave is the Bengaluru-based co-founder, full-time director and executive vice-chairman of Varthana Finance Pvt. Ltd, a non-banking finance company, which to date has disbursed 20,000 loans to 13,500 affordable private schools in 16 states and one Union territory countrywide. Varthana’s clientele includes Sristi Global School, Bengaluru; The Public School, Mumbai; New St. Maria School, Hyderabad; Sri Sathya Sai Vidya Vihar, Chennai; Newton HS School of Science, Bhubaneswar and PMD Academy, Lucknow, among others.

Newspeg. Last June, Varthana Finance secured investment aggregating Rs.159 crore from three global investors including BlueEarth Capital, Franklin Templeton Alternative Investments, and ResponsAbility.

History. An economics and business management alum of the University of California, Los Angeles and the Haas School of Business at UCal, Berkeley, Hardgrave began his professional career in 1996 in Mexico where he worked for seven years to launch a savings-led microfinance institution for disadvantaged communities. “This experience shaped my belief that meaningful change happens when financial access is paired with deep understanding of how underserved families build their lives and futures,” says Hardgrave.

After returning to the US in 2003 and completing a business management program, Hardgrave acquired valuable experience in impact investing with the Omidyar Network and Gray Ghost Ventures where his work focused on expanding access of socio-economically disadvantaged communities to capital, and improving education outcomes in emerging markets.

In 2008 while working with the Atlanta (USA)-based Gray Ghost Ventures and exploring school financing in India, in a chance encounter Hardgrave met Brajesh Mishra, a professional in the rural microfinance and agri-business division of ICICI Bank. Five years later when Hardgrave had made up his mind about promoting a schools financing business in India, he teamed up with Mishra. The duo invested their personal savings and organised seed funding of Rs.7 crore to promote Varthana (‘growth’ in Sanskrit) Finance Pvt. Ltd in 2013 to multiply affordable private schools in India.

Direct talk. “Varthana was founded with the clear mission to strengthen affordable private schools to enable them to provide good quality education to children from low-income families. We partner closely with school owners — many of them first-generation entrepreneurs — and finance them to build better classrooms, upgrade facilities, adopt digital technology and improve learning environments. We also support students directly through higher education loans, ensuring their progress beyond school. Although affordable private schools play a critical role in Indian K-12 education, they are regarded as too informal and risky for formal finance. We aim to change this perception by proving that low-fees affordable schools can be profitable and deserving of institutional support. Beyond financing, we introduce low-fees levying schools to digital technologies, STEM labs, curriculum support, solar and sanitation solutions, while our education specialists offer teacher training and guidance,” says Hardgrave

Future plans. Hardgrave’s noble aspiration is simple and ambitious: to realise a future where a child’s place of birth or household income never becomes a barrier to accessing quality education. “Our long-term vision is to become India’s most trusted partner of affordable private schools. We want to deepen our presence in tier II-III towns and rural areas where thousands of schools don’t have access to reliable financing and support. We also plan to broaden solutions available to schools through our ecosystem partners, helping them adopt technology, upgrade learning environments and improve daily operations in affordable and sustainable ways. At the same time, our higher education loan vertical will continue to support students as they transition into college, vocational training or other career pathways,” says Hardgrave.

Wind beneath your wings!

Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru)