Abraaj Group partners with Egyptian education provider Tiba

Cairo, Egypt, Capital Markets in Africa — The Abraaj Group (‘Abraaj’ or the ‘Group’), a leading investor operating in global growth markets, today announced a partnership, through its second generation North Africa Fund (‘ANAF II’), with Tiba Group (‘Tiba’ or the ‘Company’), an education service provider in Egypt. Tiba operates across three verticals and through seven educational institutions in Egypt, serving approximately 20,000 students. The Group also announced the formation of an Education Management Company that provides management support services to educational institutions in Egypt.

Founded by Dr. Seddik Afifi in 1990, Tiba has grown from one K-12 school (Thebes School) to cover both the higher education segment through the Thebes Academy chain, and university-level education through Nahda University. Dr Seddik founded his first school in 1981. The Thebes Schools Group caters to children aged three to 18 years and consists of schools offering national education as well as American and British education curricula. The Thebes Academy consists of three academies in Cairo and Giza, offering engineering, computer science, information technology, business management and financial markets courses to approximately 14,000 students with a focus on affordable high quality education. Nahda University was established in 2007 and is the first private university in Upper Egypt, benefiting from a wide catchment area and operating through six faculties with approximately 4,000 enrolled students.

As part of its investment strategy for the Middle East and North Africa region, Abraaj invests in resilient sectors such as education, and Tiba marks Abraaj’s second investment in the education sector in Egypt, and its fifth globally. In 2014, Abraaj announced its investment in CIRA, the largest K-12 private schools group in Egypt with over 20 owned and operated schools under the widely recognized ‘Future Schools’ brand.

The education sector in Egypt is experiencing rising demand, driven by favorable demographics and a growing aspirational population keen to invest in high quality education for their children. Egypt is the most populous nation in the Middle East and North Africa region with a population of 87 million, and as evidenced by its current academic year, there are over 20 million enrolled students nationwide, 18.3 million of whom are in K-12 schools.

Abraaj and Tiba’s management team will focus on enhancing its curricula and brand to increase enrolment, upgrading its facilities, and expanding partnerships with potential employers to increase job placements for its University and Academy students.

Commenting on the investment, Ahmed Badreldin, Partner and Regional Head of Middle East and North Africa for The Abraaj Group, said, “Our collaboration with Dr Seddik Afifi and Tiba represents a unique partnership with Egypt’s leading education group who share our vision of providing high quality, relevant and accessible education to a growing student body in Egypt. We look forward to applying our global experience in the education sector to expand the company into new markets and augment quality and educational standards for the benefit of students, faculty and parents.”

Dr. Seddik Afifi, Founder of Tiba Group, commented, “Affordable, accessible and high quality education should be the right of every child as it is the single greatest catalyst to growth and holistic development. The Tiba Group has been single minded in the achievement of this goal for the past 25 years and today we are delighted to announce our partnership with Abraaj who share our vision for excellence in education. We are confident that their sector experience, global platform and unique operating skills will enhance our offerings and enable us to offer a greater value proposition to our students.”

Mohamed El Rashidi, incoming Chief Executive Officer of the newly formed Education Management Company, commented, “We believe this is an opportune time to develop the education sector in Egypt. With enrolment rates steadily increasing year-on-year in all verticals across the sector, the opportunity to enhance the quality of education, and ultimately cultivating the necessary skills for Egyptian jobs and careers, is immense.”

Abraaj has helped pioneer the development of the private equity industry in North Africa and has been investing in the region since 2006, with 96% of its investments in the region sourced by its local teams. In Cairo, Abraaj has three investments, namely the North Africa Hospital Holdings Group, technology solutions provider OMS, and leading education group CIRA.