Gates in Africa: A story of success and decline

One of the great contributions of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is their funding of universities in Africa.

Our analysis of the Gates Foundation university giving between 2014-2018 concluded that African institutions were the third biggest regional beneficiary. In total African higher education institutions, received 11% of Gates university funding in the past five years, totalling $236m.

We identified 43 African universities in 14 countries that have received funding from the Gates Foundation, the median average donation to an African university is $865k while the mean average is $5.5m (we take the view that a median average is a better measure of looking at giving). It is an indisputable good news story, but there are some details which are worth surfacing.

The first observation to note is that giving is skewed towards institutions in Southern Africa. The regional breakdown of Gates university giving is as follows:

  • Northern Africa: $0 (0%)

  • Southern Africa: $173m (73%)

  • West Africa: $52m (22%)

  • East Africa: $12m (5%)

There is also a 3:1 skew towards universities in Anglophone universities, as compared to Francophone countries. South Africa is by far the biggest beneficiary of Gates Africa university giving. 10 South African universities received $171m between 2014-18, and giving is yet further weighted to two institutions – the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).

UCT and Wits have received collectively $154m, 90% of Gates Foundation giving to South Africa and 66% of all giving to universities in Africa. UCT is the darling of African universities in global philanthropy. In the Gates world, it is the fifth biggest non-US recipient of university giving, after one Canadian and three UK universities. Wits is the seventh biggest non-US recipient of Gates university giving.

The Top 5 African university recipients 2014-18 of Gates Foundation giving are:

The last point to make about Gates Foundation African university giving is that it appears to be in decline but the number of beneficiaries is rising: 2014: $72m (17 recipients) 2015: $31m (22 recipients) 2016: $47m (22 recipients) 2017: $30m (26 recipients) 2018: $56m (26 recipients) Regardless of future direction, it is an impressive story and Gates has stepped up into institutions in countries which might otherwise struggle to access funding.

Andrew WigleyGates Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Africa, African universities, University of Cape Tow, University of the Witwatersrand, University of KwaZulu-Natal