The market-led, demand-driven business strategy focuses at tapping the mutually-beneficial partnership method to advance the above-mentioned mission. The private partners compatible with the objectives and the spirit of the initiative will be explored to build alliances with the motivated and eligible partners from the local communities across the country. Both partners i.e., management of FEN and the local franchisee will complement each other’s needs and leverage upon each other’s strengths to establish a school that can guarantee the realisation of above-described goals. The expansion strategy has the following outline.

• The FEN education network, is essentially not-for-profit social innovation.
• The venture aims at economic and social uplift of the poor and the under-privileged through targeted education intervention.
• The expansion of the system to attain universal education relies on franchise model of business development.
• The school will be set up by and will be the ownership of the school will lie with the franchisee.

The outsourcing business model has been relied upon to achieve the organisation’s goals. It focuses on tapping the resources of the other potential partners from the local community who share the same value, beliefs, spirit and strategy with FEN to bring education equality. Since FEN is a non-profit venture, hence, it doesn’t seek profit from this partnership. But this condition doesn’t limit the selection of local partners i.e., franchisee, who can be a motivated and passionate female who would contribute one-half of the school’s one-time establishment cost. Whereas the franchisee will contribute 30 percent towards the monthly operational cost. This amount the franchisee will raise through charging the monthly fee set by the FEN. The remaining 70 percent of the monthly operational expenditure will be contributed by the Falah Foundation. This provides shared responsibility to both the partners to ensure their respective stakes, role and responsibility. In addition, given the fact that it is a social entrepreneurship, the business model has provision of providing Rs: 1000 per month as opportunity cost to the parents of the most marginalised children as an incentive that have been enrolled by the personal efforts of the school staff. This concept of shared ownership makes the foundation for a sustainable partnership.

All of the establishment cost and 75 percent of the monthly operational cost shall be the responsibility of Falah Foundation (FF) ; the parent organisation of FEN. FF will raise it revenues from the donations of its trustee, Board of Donors and occasional philanthropists. The financial framework of FF has been orchestrated as;

• 34 percent funds to be provided by trustees and donors
• 33 percent funds to be raised from other local NGOs, international NGOs, International Development Partners (IDPs) etc.
• 33 percent of the funding will be raised from the fee charged from the students to keep it sustainable. It also will send the students a strong message that they are not being raised on charity-funding, rather they are footing the bill of their education, no matter even a tiny part of it, themselves. It will garner a sense of dignity and self-respect in them.

All the financial transactions shall be made through formal banking channels and will be well documented and recorded. A well reputed international external audit firm like Ferguson or KPMG etc. shall be hired for annual audits of the FF as well as FEN. It is a mandatory feature to uphold transparency and judicious expenditure of the available funds. The annual report shall be compiled, published and made a public document for open public review and scrutiny. It is meant to muster increasingly higher public confidence into what the FF is doing and how it is doing.

• The franchisee shall be a female.
• The franchisee shall have to provide at least two female teachers including of herself as teaching faculty for each school.
• The number of teachers in each school shall be enrolment based. Generally, at the beginning on 25 students there shall be one teacher
• In phase -I, w.e.f. 1^st July 2022 to 30^th June 2025, the school will be from Nursery to Class-V.
• The teacher shall be between 20-70 years of age, allowing the extreme age unemployed workforce to productively contribute into the process of social change.
• The minimum academic qualification for a Head Teacher is Bachelors, for other teachers, Intermediate/Grade-12.
• One of the teachers will be the Head Teacher, who will be the franchisee herself.
• The HT shall be notified by FEN HQ (Head Quarter).
• The teacher has to be domiciled or resident of that local area.
• The school funding shall be conditional to the meeting of annual, monthly, weekly and daily targets as set by FEN HQ.
• The school’s eligibility for its inception or continuation shall depend upon the scoring against the given targets and milestones.
• The school performance indicators including enrolment, retention, provision of missing facilities, lesson delivery, extra-curricular activities, periodic qualitative testing, teachers’ performance and exam results etc. will be determined separately by FEN HQ in collaboration with the Education Partner (EP).

• Local Partner (LP) shall have to meet the eligibility criteria for setting up a new school.
• Local Partner shall have to meet the eligibility criteria for being hired as Head Teacher.
• Minimum 25 percent of the monthly operational cost of the school shall be contributed by the franchisee, who will charge tuition fee to the affording students, as per HO guidelines.
• The monthly school fee shall be decided at a rate that can cover conveniently the 25 percent monthly operational cost to be contributed by the franchisee HT.
• Franchisee HT has to arrange the school building, owned or rented, which has minimum;
  1. Five Marla or 1250 sq. ft covered area
  2. One-storey building structure
  3. Separate toilets for boys’ and girls’ students
  4. Temperature-regulated safe drinking water
  5. Boundary wall or controlled access building premises to ensure physical security
  6. Furniture, stationery, teaching aids, toolkit, temperature regulation infrastructure to combat extreme weather
  7. Electricity connection with alternate energy source for un-interrupted power supply
  8. Two teachers including the franchisee herself possessing the minimum selection criteria set by FEN
• Franchisee HT shall have to ensure that the school adheres to the curriculum, academic calendar, lesson plans, discipline, content and delivery of the notified syllabus as prescribed and communicated by the FEN HO.
• Franchisee HT shall be responsible to follow the legal, administrative and academic framework provided by the FEN HO.
• Franchisee HT shall be responsible for ensuring that the quality education is imparted in a prescribed manner to students, for the best possible expected learning outcomes.
• The school funding and additional grants shall be conditional to school’s meeting of the enrolment and academic targets as agreed upon in the agreement.
• Any other assignment/ task given by FEN HO in addition to the above.

• FEN HO shall be responsible for the funding; Whole of the one-time set-up cost and maximum of75% percent of the monthly operational cost of the school.
• The site survey, feasibility report, need and impact assessment services before opening of the new school will be examined and approved by HO.
• Approval of the new school, Head teacher, and enrolment ranges will be made by FEN HO.
• The funding shall be subject to school’s meeting the targets set by the FEN HO.
• FEN HO shall be responsible for provision of curriculum, academic calendar, syllabus, books, stationary, lesson plans, teacher guides, students’ personality development, extra-curricular activities, and periodic / annual students’ evaluation etc.
• FEN HO shall take responsibility of hiring; pre-induction and periodic trainings, and professional development of the teachers and allied staff.
• FEN HO will be responsible for any legal and administrative support; supervisory and trouble-shooting services and R & D, data management and graduation/accreditation services.
• Any other responsibility that may be assigned to FEN HO by Falah Foundation.