The project sponsor is Dr. Dalton Ssegawa an experienced Ugandan educationalist who founded the School in 2001. Dr. Ssegawa is the majority shareholder, with 59% of shares. The other shareholders are his wife and sons, who each own 4-8%.

The total project cost is estimated at US$8.6 million. The proposed IFC investment is an A loan of up to US$3.5 million

4.10 million (USD)

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan	4.10
Equity

* These investment figures are indicative

The School operates from two campuses in the Kigungu and Katabi areas within Entebbe municipality.

i) Increased access to affordable, quality education; ii) promoting the integration of academic and vocational education in the East African education sector; ii) demonstration of the commercial viability of quality private education in Uganda at a price point which is accessible to the middle class; iii) enhanced ability of students to earn livelihoods, both through formal employment or small scale entrepreneurship, due to vocational training.

i) IFC has worked closely with the Company to develop a viable financial structure; ii) IFC is providing longer term finance than is available from local banks, which is required given the long term nature of investments in educational infrastructure; iii) IFC is providing a US Dollar loan which the School can financially support, as 50% of its students are from outside of Uganda and pay fees in US Dollars, but which local banks are unable to provide. This substantially reduces the financing costs of the Project; iv) IFC will act as a long-term partner and explore opportunities for Merryland to expand further; v) IFC will review the School''s current and planned operations to identify and advise on opportunities for energy efficiency improvements as part of the Green Buildings program.

This is a category B project according to IFC’s Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability because potential adverse environmental and social risks are limited, reversible and may be readily mitigated.

Key issues associated with the project include: i) the building standards applied to schools, including those related to life and fire safety; ii) labor and working conditions for employees and contract staff, including occupational health and safety during the construction phase; iii) safety and health of student boarders, particularly due to the number to be accommodated; iv) provision of potable water of an adequate quality ; iv) security measures implemented at the schools to ensure the safety of students; and v) food safety and quality.

Merryland acquired the land for the project based upon a willing-buyer willing-seller arrangement, by direct negotiation (no Agents were involved). Kigungu has four (4) different titles, purchased from 4 different entities. Part of it was public land used primarily for grazing and negotiated from the government. The rest was purchased from individual owners that were farming on the land. Katabi has three (3) different titles, purchased from 3 different entities. One was from an individual that had started construction for a primary school, the other was from a company that was using the land for farming, and the third was land from an individual that had initially planned to build a school. The land owners did not know eachother; a fair value for each parcel of land was individually negotiated, and owners vacated of their own accord, with no requirement for resettlement, claims or compensation for loss of livelihood. Thus, PS 5: Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement is not applicable to this project. The new school is sited within a residential area where the land was previously cleared, highly degraded and converted. As such, PS 6: Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Resources does not apply. Finally, given the areas occupied by the schools, PS 7 Indigenous peoples and PS:8 Cultural Heritage also do not apply.

Please refer to the related Environmental and Social Review Summary (ESRS) document for this project.

Please refer to the Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) tab in the related Environmental and Social Review Summary (ESRS) document for this project.