Episode 60: Interview with John Rendel, the Founder and CEO of PEAS, (Promoting Equality in African Schools)

John is the Founder and CEO of PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools), a rapidly growing and multiple award-winning social enterprise that widens access to secondary education in Africa. 

Ten years ago John began working full time on setting up PEAS –the aim was to create a sustainable and self-sufficient network of schools, which can thrive with government support. The charity now has a network of 28 schools in Uganda and 2 in Zambia.

PEAS students tend to come from poorer backgrounds than government or private schools in Uganda. Even though many of the schools are in hard to reach rural areas, PEAS students are achieving exam results that are above the national average. Three PEAS schools have recently been recognised by the Ministry of Education in Uganda as being amongst the top performing secondary schools in the country. PEAS’s ambition is now to lead a charter school movement by helping Africa governments create enabling education ecosystems that get millions more kids through quality secondary school.

John has gone on to become a member of the Courvoisier Future 500, the Rockefeller Top One Hundred Next Century Innovators and the Charity Times Awards Rising CEO star.  In 2013, PEAS won the UK Charity Awards and the WISE Global Innovation Awards.