How Organizational Health Helps Mexoxo Democratize Women's Access to Education Across the Globe
Elpida Kokkota, Founder and CEO of Mexoxo, was the first woman in her family to earn a college degree. This valuable gift of education inspired her to create Mexoxo, a nonprofit dedicated to democratizing education for women globally. “I felt the need to give this gift to women who might not have had the same chance,” she reflects.
Mexoxo encourages, enables, and facilitates women’s active involvement in business, employment, learning, and community. Since its launch in 2013, Mexoxo has provided learning opportunities to more than 150,000 women across 171 countries.
Take Sally for example. After completing one of Mexoxo’s empowerment programs in Kenya, Sally used her new skills to open a small cookshop. Today, she provides daily meals to vulnerable women and teenage mothers in her community.
Mai Linh Nguyen is a Mexoxo alumna from Vietnam, currently working in the field of data and business strategy. She comments, “I wanted to grow both professionally and personally. Mexoxo gave me the tools and the mindset to build confidence, leadership, and impact in my career.”
Dorcas Wamuthenya, a cybersecurity professional who was once a participant in the nonprofit’s upskilling programs, now volunteers with Mexoxo. Reflecting on how Mexoxo’s impact scales, she shares, “There’s an African saying that when you help one woman, you help a village. Women tend to give back what they’ve learned to their families and their communities.”
Turning Big Dreams into Tangible Success
Mexoxo’s vision for the future is as bold as the women it serves. The organization aims to economically empower 5 million women by 2030. The challenge is to build on its culture and working methods as it expands across new regions, so it can grow while remaining true to its founding vision and mission.
To support this next chapter of growth, Mexoxo’s leadership turned to McKinsey.org to gain a fact-backed perspective on its current ways of working, enrolling in its Organizational Health Index (OHI) for Nonprofits program.
Driving Strategy Through Organizational Health
The McKinsey.org OHI for Nonprofits program assesses nine key outcomes and 55 practices that drive organizational health. The results are then benchmarked against those of hundreds of nonprofits globally. The program helps nonprofit leaders understand how their unique teams are currently working together to deliver their mission, while it teaches best practices for turning those insights into lasting organizational impact.
The OHI for Nonprofits program enabled Mexoxo to turn its lens inward, surfacing meaningful insights. “OHI for Nonprofits provided an opportunity for us to rethink our strategy and focus on what we can improve to become even healthier,” says Dimitra Pantou, Finance and Accounting Officer at Mexoxo.
For Mexoxo, a key part of advancing that strategy is its people. One insight that emerged was how team well-being can drive sustained impact. “Supporting our people leads to better work, stronger partnerships, and more women reached through education,” Kokkota says.
Leveraging the organization’s results, Mexoxo’s leaders explored how it could create more capacity for its employees by automating several day-to-day operations, including administrative workflows and community outreach. For example, the creative department designed systems to collect and organize testimonials from women around the world, a process that was previously undertaken manually. As Antonio Skarpetas, Creative Director at Mexoxo, shared: “Implementing automation completely changed how I work. It made communication easier and helped us collect more stories and testimonials.”
Greater automation has also helped Mexoxo meet a long-term goal around balancing performance with well-being.
The idea of a four-day workweek for employees had been on Kokkota’s mind for some time, but it always felt like a bold leap. That changed after participating in OHI for Nonprofits. The data and insights from the program gave Kokkota the confidence to press ahead. “OHI for Nonprofits showed us that a healthy organization is one where people can rest, recharge, and still thrive. So, we decided to try it, and it’s been absolutely fabulous.”
With more time to rest, the team became more creative, focused, and inspired. “People come back each week with fresh ideas and new energy,” says Kokkota.
Internally, the shift encouraged better organization and prioritization. Teams learned to plan their schedules more efficiently and streamline meetings to make the most of their working hours.
Pantou comments: “At first it felt challenging because we were used to five days, but soon we realized it helped us coordinate better, meet with more purpose, and prioritize what truly matters.” Partners and peers began to take notice, asking how the organization could achieve so much while working fewer days.
A Healthier Organization with Deeper Impact
Fueled by insights from OHI for Nonprofits, Mexoxo now operates with greater confidence that its people, processes, and systems are equipped to effectively progress its goals of expanding women’s access to education and professional opportunities.
Kokkota explains, “We’re strong because we invest in our own organizational health. OHI for Nonprofits put a seal on that, showing that what we’re doing matters and encouraging us to keep improving.” The result is a healthier organization that is all the more ready to deliver lasting impact for the communities it serves.
