GEMS eyes 100-strong school expansion

GEMS, the Dubai-based education provider, is planning a massive expansion drive in the MENA region with the inclusion of an additional 100 schools into its network over the next five years, Arabian Business has learned.

Countries targeted include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, where the group currently owns or manages more than 50 schools.

Dino Varkey, senior director of business operations at GEMS, said the firm had ambitious plans to notch up an additional 100 schools in India during the same time frame.

Combined, the expansion drive would triple the number of schools currently in the GEMS network.

“In order, we’re looking to expand in India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar,” Varkey said. “In India, we’re looking to grow to a hundred schools in the next five years, and that will be a mix between our consultancy [schools] and school models.”

GEMS currently runs five schools in India.

“From a MENA perspective, we will be looking at probably another hundred schools, with the balance in Saudi and Egypt just because of the macro factors,” he added. “And we’re going to continue investing in the UAE, specifically in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.”

Bringing up the rear is a plan for 20 schools in the US, where GEMS already has a presence.

The education network is currently licensed to operate in nine states.

Regionally, Varkey has earmarked Saudi Arabia as a particular growth area, and has already inked a deal with the country’s General Investment Authority (SAGIA) to manage the first school in King Abdullah Economic City.

The firm is also consulting on a number of opportunities in the remaining five economic cities, and is weighing up several acquisitions, Varkey said.

“From a GCC perspective, Saudi is absolutely the market you want to be in, regardless of the constraints. Saudi today, as a proportion of their GDP, is going to be spending more on education than anywhere else in the world.

“We’re the first foreign education company to be awarded an education services consultancy licence, and we believe we could be a tremendous partner for Saudi. We have big plans.”

Worldwide, GEMS operates 100 schools across 11 countries with a 100,000-strong student population. The group employs 6,500 teachers from 50 different nationalities, and is the largest employer worldwide of British and Indian teachers outside their home countries.

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM