The F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact is an annual global prize of USD $150,000 in unrestricted funds that amplifies and accelerates the work of an enterprise working to scale its impact on social or environmental problems around the world. Now in its fifth year, this program is administered by the Center for Advancement of Social Enterprise (CASE) at Duke Univesity’s Fuqua School of Business in partnership with the F. M. Kirby Foundation.
Honoring Fred Morgan Kirby’s entrepreneurial spirit, the Kirby Prize recognizes enterprises pursuing strategic pathways to impact at scale, who are close to the challenges at hand, who center the voice and experience of the populations they serve, who have demonstrated traction, and who embody courageous and collaborative leadership. This prize is open to any legal form, geographic location, and any social or environmental impact area.
The 2026-2027 Kirby Impact Prize application window will open in the fall. You can learn more about the F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact, the application criteria, and past winners by visiting CASE at Duke’s dedicated website page.
This Year's Winner
2026 Winner: Chancen International
Watch the CASE Announcement
The F. M. Kirby Foundation and the Center for Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business selected Chancen International as the winner of the 2025-2026 F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact.
Chancen International is a nonprofit organization transforming access to tertiary education and pathways to employment for underserved youth across Africa. Headquartered in Rwanda and operating in Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, and beyond, Chancen addresses one of the region’s most persistent barriers to economic opportunity: the dearth of options for talented young people to finance post-secondary education. The organization’s solution is built around Income Share Agreements (ISAs), an innovative financing model that enables students to pursue higher education without traditional barriers such as collateral requirements, guarantors, or fixed debt obligations — repayment begins only after graduates secure employment and earn above a defined living wage. Beyond financing, Chancen provides financial literacy training, career readiness support, leadership development, and an alumni network to help students transition successfully into the workforce. As of 2026, Chancen has financed more than 10,000 students, with a 93% graduation rate and 74% formal employment within one year of graduation.
The prize, consisting of $150,000 in unrestricted funds, is designed to help amplify and accelerate an enterprise’s impact on social or environmental problems around the world. In the 2025-26 application year, four finalists were chosen from more than 200 applicants. The four finalists represent a mix of nonprofit and for-profit enterprises working across Africa and South Asia. Their innovative solutions span impact areas including higher-education financing, maternal health and obstetric emergency response, smallholder farmer market access, and low-cost foundational education for out-of-school children.
2026 Finalists
This year’s finalists included:
🔹 Kybele Worldwide, working with the Ghana Health Service, introduced a low-cost triage system that enables hospitals to detect and respond rapidly to obstetric emergencies. Assessment times have dropped from over an hour to under 10 minutes, contributing to a 30% reduction in maternal mortality. The model is now expanding to other countries.
🔹 Selina Wamucii is transforming market access for Kenya’s smallholder farmers. By addressing barriers like quality control, logistics, and aggregation—and connecting farmers to global demand—the platform now serves 1M+ farmers, increasing incomes by an average of 60%.
🔹 Teach the World Foundation is rethinking how education reaches out-of-school children. Its solar-powered “digital microschools” deliver foundational skills in just a couple hours a day—no certified teachers required on-site. In a 100-school pilot in Pakistan, attendance neared 90% and students achieved learning gains 2.5x faster than through traditional models.