The Mastercard Foundation Endowment for Educational Excellence is a partnership between the Mastercard Foundation and Ashesi Foundation Canada designed to enable world-class, inclusive higher education in Africa while driving innovation and entrepreneurship on the continent.

The endowment with the Ashesi Foundation Canada will help:

• Support the growth of an Education Collaborative, which will bring together over 100 higher education institutions to exchange insights, increase their impact, and improve education outcomes for more than 1 million students by 2030.
• Support the continuity of the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, supporting 1,500 new scholarships each decade in perpetuity.
• Amplify African youth entrepreneurship by enabling 400 young people to start or scale businesses in Africa every decade in perpetuity.

Ashesi Foundation Canada’s Board and Investment Committee oversee the management of all its operations and endowments. The Foundation’s endowments are managed by Commonfund. 

No portion of the Fund is invested directly in companies or concerns that are engaged in the following industries:
a) Manufacture or sale of tobacco products; or
b) Manufacture or sale of firearms or weapons

The Ashesi Foundation Canada currently does not support unsolicited requests for partnership or collaboration.

The Ashesi Foundation Canada has partnership initiatives with Ashesi University in Ghana, and others, which advances the Foundation’s strategic goals. However, Ashesi University Foundation Canada is an independent Canadian Charity, separate from the University and the University Foundation in the US.