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A partner’s perspective on working with Sharakat

Saudi Arabia’s water scarcity is at the centre of a blossoming infrastructure market, with private partners at its core. Its prosperity is reflected in the success of a number of flagship projects

By SHARAKAT

Structure

In 2005, local education management specialist Beacon Education opened four quite different schools in Dubai: the American Academy for Girls; Dubai British School; the Children’s Garden; and Uptown Primary. These were financed by an investment fund called Taaleem. The investment fund was set up in 2004 to specially fund Beacon’s schools and  to support other education initiatives. Beacon was founded in 2003 by a group of UAE educators with the aim of providing high quality education, from nursery level to school leaving age.

The challenge is convincing owners that bringing in Taaleem creates a healthy grouping

The arrangement worked well and the firms went on to open the AED100m ($27m) Raha International School in Abu Dhabi in 2006. Soon after, Dubai-based education specialist Madaares – which was set up by the National Bond Corporation in February 2007– started looking to build up its portfolio. It acquired the two organisations in June 2007, establishing a company with capital estimated at AED750m.

The owners of Beacon and Taaleem swapped their shares for stakes in Madaares. In May 2008, it was decided there were too many brand names associated with the venture, so the board took the decision to go with Taaleem. It means education in Arabic.

Since the merger, Taaleem has opened several new schools, including Greenfield Community School Dubai, Greenfield Community School Jumeirah, Uptown High School and My Nursery. It also runs a computer-based maths and reading programme, with two centres in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi.

More recently, it has moved into management of existing schools and is part of the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s public-private partnership arrangement, running four schools in the emirate. Ziad Azzam was one of the founders of Beacon and was chief executive officer (CEO) at the time of its acquisition by Madaares.

Operations

Taaleem currently owns, operates or manages 14 schools in the UAE. The average annual fees to study at a Taaleem-owned school is AED40,000. Its academic staff typically comprise up to 80-85 per cent of the running costs for the schools. As a result, a large amount of autonomy is given to the principals, who are sourced from leading international institutions.

The school principals are described by Taaleem as CEOs of business units. They have individual academic and financial targets agreed with the board in the annual budget. They are also responsible for hiring teaching staff, again based on an agreed recruitment plan. The head office has just 30-35 personnel.

Taaleem uses mentors to develop the principals. They include chief education officer Samia al-Farra, who is also the founding member of the Middle East International Baccalaureate Association. She introduced the International Baccalaureate (IB) to the region as principal of Amman Baccalaureate School. Other professionals include deputy chief education officer Sadru Damji, who oversees academic and new project development, deputy chief education officer for operations, Elizabeth Loadwick, academic development project director, Keith Sedgwick and principal designate for flagship schools, Angela Hollington.

Taaleem’s schools follow a range of programmes from the IB to England’s National Curriculum and the US’ National Standards system. It also credits itself with opening Dubai’s first bilingual nursery at The Children’s Garden, where students are taught in English/French or English/German, with additional focus on Arabic.

Ambitions

Having established a firm base in the UAE, Taaleem aims to expand throughout the GCC. It is offering management services to existing public and private schools as well as undertaking new buildings. The company plans to expand in Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Taaleem has several new schools in the pipeline, but some have been delayed as developers scale back their construction programmes in response to the global downturn. The AED800m Al-Furjan School with Nakheel and the Dubailand project, both in Dubai, as well as a school in Bahrain, have been put on hold. The Dubailand project would have entailed the construction of five schools near Academic City.

Taaleem’s newest facility, the Jumeirah Baccalaureate School in Dubai, will open in 2011, and will begin offering primary level teaching at levels K1-4 (ages 4-9). In 2012, it will expand to include middle year pupils and ultimately go up to diploma level.