Arcadia eyes acquisitions
dubai — Arcadia Education, a subsidiary of well-diversified Al Shirawi Group, plans to open three new schools in Dubai in the next few years with an aim to enroll up to 5,000 children as it aims to grow both organically and inorganically, its CEO said.
“Right now, we have 450 children. Realistic expectations is that over the next five years, all three schools will be operational. One school is under construction which will open by the end of next year, accommodating 800 students. Over the next five years, we like educating at least 3,000 to 5,000 children,” said Navin Valrani, chief executive officer, Arcadia Education.
“We plan both organic and inorganic way of growth. We are open to acquisitions,” he said.
The group opened its first school The Arcadia Preparatory School in Jumeirah Village Triangle in November 2017 with 350 pupils. The second school, set to open next year, will offer secondary school education.
In 2017-18 academic year, around 169 Dubai private schools offered education to over 257,000 pupils across 16 different curriculums. While a dozen new schools are opening in Dubai in this academic year by Fairgreen International School, Esol Education, Gems Education, Brighton College and others. Valrani was speaking on the sidelines of a forum ‘Learning is a journey’ hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) – Dubai Chapter, where he spoke about how learning will keep you competitive in the global knowledge economy.
Earlier, Sanjay Manchanda, CEO, Nakheel Properties, briefed the audience his journey in a candid talk hosted by Tariq Qureishy, founder and CEO of MAD Talks.
During his motivational talk, Manchanda told the audience to encourage and accept change and don’t feel hesitant to take on new situation.
“We have a land bank in Al Fujran near Discovery Gardens where we will have two more schools. We’ll look beyond the borders of Dubai towards Northern Emirates and other countries too. We are looking particularly at India, which is great interest to us,” Valrani said, adding that entry into India would be before GCC because India is a great economic story and they want to take benefit of that.
He pointed out that Hyderabad or Telangana could be the first cities where the group might be foraying into.
He, however, refused to disclose the total size of the budget allocated for the development of new educational institutions by Arcadia.
“I think Dubai will be hub for education. There are minor blips in the economy but in the longer term, Dubai is very strong and will be one of the top 3-4 cities of the world to offer best education quality.”
We plan both organic and inorganic way of growth. We are open to acquisitions
Navin Valrani, CEO, Arcadia Education