Dino Varkey talks about how his family built GEMS Education
DINO GIVES RARE GLIMPSE INTO PRIVATE LIFE OF PIONEERING EDUCATORS
Iam sitting with the CEO of the world’s largest operator of private kindergarten-to-Grade 12 schools headquartered in Dubai, just ahead of the new term at that, and I find myself asking him the unaskable: Had he ever visualised himself in a different field of work?
Absurd as the question may seem, the response is candid. “There was a period in my life when I actually wanted to be a professional golfer,” the dapper Dino Varkey lets on.
But the 1980-born is quick to qualify his statement: The context is strictly outside the realm of his business.
Of course. As the elder of the two sons of Sunny Varkey, founder and chairman of GEMS Education, which runs a staggering 150 schools with over 200,000 students across several countries, Dino being on board the hugely successful global educational enterprise was perhaps a foregone conclusion.
Burden of legacy?
Now that is precisely my point: Were we talking of a possible burden of legacy here? The answer is an unambiguous no. “From a career point of view, I remember doing some soul-searching when I was in my first semester in university in the UK. In 20 minutes, it was pretty clear I wanted to further the ambitions, aspirations and purpose of GEMS. I couldn’t think of anything that would allow me to feel as fulfilled,” says Dino.
The Varkeys very rarely talk about their private lives. As Dino himself admits, “We’re very intensely personal. Usually, when we do media interviews, we are focused on education and are guarded about personal anecdotes. They don’t come to me naturally.”
The beginnings were very modest, Dino reminds me.
How it all started
“A lot of people forget or are unaware that my family hails from a lower middle-class background from the south of India. My grandparents Mariamma and K.S. Varkey were very educated and chose to travel to the UAE from a small village called Ranny near Kottayam in Kerala 62 years ago.”
Considered pioneers in education in the UAE, the couple rose to a call for English and Math teachers for the locals of the day, including some royal family members. Soon, they extended their services to expat students. By 1968, they were ready to take on the biggest adventure of their lives and set up their own school — Our Own English High School — in Bastakiya.
In 1979, the school was moved to Karama where its porta cabins served as a breeding ground for at least half a dozen other schools, including Dubai Modern High School, Cambridge High School and Kindergarten
Starters in the next few years.
There was no looking back since. As Dino says, “My grandparents were teachers and not necessarily business folk. The real acceleration of the vision came when my father, who was bold and ambitious, saw the opportunity of taking that one school to where we are today: the world’s largest private K-12 education enterprise; one of two global homegrown champions along with Emirates that Dubai can lay claim to.”
Father-son relationship
So what is it like to be the son of Sunny Varkey? Back then and now? And what kind of a relationship does Dino share with him?
“Back then, we had a very normal father-son relationship. The difference today is that it has become professional. He is the founder of the business and chairman of the group, so I have a professional relationship inevitably with him as the CEO. It’s a relationship that has grown and matured over the last 18 years,” says the frank Dino.
Sunny Varkey and his two sons complement each other, adds Dino. “I always talk of how my father is the consummate entrepreneur, while I am the typical professional and my brother Jay Varkey (who works with the group from the UK) the techie.”
On the home front, however, the Varkeys have not lost their personal touch. “As time has evolved and I have my own family with two kids [aged 12 and seven], I am exposed to another aspect of my relationship with my father: Seeing him around the grandkids. There’s always a time when parents tell you that you’ll only know what it is to be a parent when you become one. So these areas
of commonality have become the foundation for another dimension of the relationship.”
Quiet rock of the family
Dino makes a special mention of his mother Sherly too. “My mum is the quiet rock of the family. She is the connective tissue who silently carries the load and proves that family comes first.”
He shares a cherished memory of his mother from his younger days: A picture of her wiping back her tears after she and her husband had dropped Dino off at school in the UK. “It was a sad moment, but a cherished one for me,” he says.
The incident can still make his mother cry, adds Dino.
Having done his earlier schooling in Our Own and his “favourite” GEMS Modern Academy, Dino says is driven by the same passion as his grandparents to be teachers.
“While my grandfather was the intellectual, the mind that inspired GEMS Education, my grandmother was its heart. Her attributes as a teacher are something I carry through and hope is embodied in every teacher who teaches in GEMS today.”
I remember doing some soul-searching when I was in my first semester in university in the UK. In 20 minutes, it was pretty clear I wanted to further the ambitions and purpose of GEMS.”
The learning never stops
Dino says life is the ultimate teacher. And nothing has underlined this better than the pandemic. “Among other things, it reminded us that we need to take a break, rest and reset. And do something we love. This is one of the life hacks I talk to students about.”
As a passionate educator, Dino has worked harder than ever as GEMS CEO during the pandemic. But he has also made time to listen to the electronic music he loves, soak in the arts and of course, play his beloved golf.
Dino Varkey | CEO of GEMS Education