Baah Memorial School
Apaaso, Ashanti Region, Ghana
Started in 2005 by proprietor and trained teacher Lily Baah, Baah Memorial School in Apaaso, Ghana began with just six nursery school students.
As parents realized that the students at Baah Memorial School were speaking English and performing better than their peers at other schools, Lily's enrollment grew. This growth required improved infrastructure to support the expanding student body.
My school has a bright future because I know that the IDP Rising Schools Program will support me. Lily Baah, Proprietor of Baah Memorial School
After joining the IDP Rising Schools program and completing its financial literacy and school management training, Lily has since acquired a total of eight loans totaling about 134,000 Ghanaian cedis (approximately 27,000 USD based off November 2018 exchange rates). The first two loans were used to add 11 classrooms. Her subsequent loans were used to purchase a school bus, repair an old vehicle, create gender-separated restrooms, and add a three story multipurpose building. She was even able to add a dormitory so that her junior high school students could study for their examinations. All of these improvements helped Lily increase the enrollment from 200 students in 2010 to 650 in 2018.
Today, Baah Memorial is a successful social enterprise serving students from nursery through junior high.