THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION - International Indian

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[ COVER STORy ] Sunny Varkey PROFIT & EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION GO HAND-IN-HAND “Sunny Varkey owns the largest network of private schools in the United Arab Emirates – 26 schools with around 85,000 students of 124 nationalities and 6,200 ‘education professionals’ – specialists and staff from around the world, providing the Indian, British, American and IB curriculum. His goal is extraordinary – he wants to be the biggest private education provider in the world, with a global chain of top class schools.” Sunny and Sons: Dino Varkey (left), Senior Director of Business Development, aged 28 and Jay Varkey (right), aged 25 years who has recently joined the Varkey Group 56 THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN
[ COVER STORy ] HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Sunny Varkey HRH Prince Charles and Sunny Varkey [By MONA PARIKH MCNICHOLAS & FRANK RAJ ] Sunny Varkey’s mission of redefining education in the UAE and beyond has succeeded in creating what no single entrepreneur has managed to achieve in the field of Middle East education. In four short decades the Dubai based Keralite ‘edupreneur’ who strategically christened his educational organization Global Education Management Systems (GEMS), has successfully developed a multinational corporation with schools in the Arabian Gulf and beyond. It is no ordinary feat for a visionary who cheerfully admits, he was a good student, but studies were not his forte. “I love doing business and have always been an entrepreneur right from the start,” Sunny confesses. Charismatic and disarming, his innate entrepreneurial skills have clearly stood him in good stead where many a person with an ordinary educational background like his may not have succeeded. His success is the envy of competitors he has left far behind and much debated by people skeptical about his ‘business as normal’ approach to education. “We are pioneers, even radical you might say, and as such controversy follows us everywhere we go.” Sunny has succeeded by bucking conventional wisdom that conforms to the notion of education as a non-profit enterprise. Challenging the way society views high quality education, he runs GEMS like any successful business, for profit. Sunny was born on the 9th of April, 1957, in Kerala. His parents came to the UAE a year later as teachers and have taught English to many of the VIP nationals of UAE.” Their tuition fee of Rs 25 a month eventually resulted in the first Our Own English High School, founded in 1968, which was then only a makeshift setup.” In the early 1980s, when required by the Dubai authorities, a purpose-built school was established, becoming the first step towards the Varkey global education empire. Did Sunny study at this school? “No,” he laughs, “I was in boarding school in India, a short time at St Mary’s School in Dubai and then completed my A-levels in the UK.” He first started his career in Dubai in 1977 in banking, with a stint at Standard Chartered Bank and helped with his parents’ school, at times even driving the school bus at 5.30 am. But Sunny was restless for his own business. And the opportunity lay right before him. At the age of 23, when Sunny took over the management of Our Own English High School, it had 720 students and 27 teachers. Today, Sunny owns the largest network of private schools in the United Arab Emirates – 26 schools with almost 85,000 students of 124 nationalities and 6,200 “education professionals” - specialists and staff from around the world, providing the Indian, British, American and IB curriculum. GEMS is the largest employer of Indian and British teachers outside of their home country. His goal is remarkable - he wants to be the biggest private education provider in the world, with a global chain of schools. “If the likes of Marriott have four or five thousand hotels, I don’t know why we should not be able to do the same,” he muses. GEMS manages a growing network of nearly 100 high quality international schools around the world. Sunny hopes to take that number to 5000 in 15 years. They currently have 11 schools in the UK and are in the process of signing up deals in the USA, Singapore, China and India. How does he view the educational sector in India? “In India, 98% of the so called ‘Educational Trusts’ are actually commercial,” THE INTERNATIONAL INDIAN 57
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15th Year! THE INTERNATIONAL The Re
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[ EDITORIAL ] Calling Indian Hindus
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Page 26 and 27: [ BUSINESS OF MUSIC ] classical art
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Page 35 and 36: [ FOREIGN AFFAIRS ] had the firepow
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Page 47 and 48: [ COMMUNITy HyDERABADI ] were both
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Page 61 and 62: [ COVER STORy ] School has been ser
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Page 69 and 70: [ FROM CANADA ] Jenni (half Indian
Page 71 and 72: [ BOLLyWOOD PROFILE ] I understand
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THE BUSINESS OF EDUCATION - International Indian

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