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LGA's mission is to improve the quality of higher education by helping owners and operators of higher education institutions achieve their goals.

LGA's founder, Nick Levi-Gardes, became passionate about improving higher education during an eight year career in private equity focussed on Africa, working for Emerging Capital Partners and Satya Capital.  During this time, he saw the need for a highly trained workforce to harness the opportunities being created by the continent's sustained economic growth.

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In 2013, he joined Maarifa Education, a private equity-backed vehicle created to invest in and develop private tertiary education institutions throughout Africa.

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During his four years as a senior executive at Maarifa, he led due diligences on six institutions and executed the acquisition of two.  Later, as Director of Strategic Planning and Corporate Development, he was responsible for all medium term strategic planning as well as operations for both of Maarifa's institutions. 

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Prior to working in African private equity, Nick was an Investment Banking Analyst at Deutsche Bank in London.  Nick has a BS in Mathematics from Tufts University , is a graduate of Columbia Business School, and holds an MSc in Higher Education from the University of Oxford.