Back to the complete issue
Monday, 10 January 2022

MENA’s first Finnish-British school is coming to SODIC East

SODIC East to see MENA’s first Finnish-British school: Upmarket real estate developer SODIC has signed an agreement to set up a Finnish-British school in its SODIC East project with Finnish British Consortium for Investment (FBC) and Finnish Global Education Solutions (FGES), SODIC announced in a press release (pdf).

The school is slated to begin operating in 2023, following the planned launch of the first phases of SODIC’s East Cairo mixed-use development this year.

About the school: The English-language Finnish British School (FBS) will teach the British curriculum and IB, using the Finnish system of holistic, phenomenon-based learning (where students learn through interdisciplinary projects rather than subject by subject). The “sports-focused” school will be associated with Finland’s Espoo International School for exchange programs and mentorship on implementing the IB curriculum. The principals will be Finnish, while the teaching staff will be international.

The project comes as part of Finland’s education diplomacy: FGES was launched with support of the Finnish education ministry as part of the country’s drive to export its education system, according to the statement. The school will be run under the supervision of a Finnish government body linked to its education ministry. The agreement with SODIC was inked in Helsinki in the presence of Egypt’s ambassador to Finland and Finland’s dedicated education ambassador. The signing coincided with Education Minister Tarek Shawki’s first visit to Finland, where he met with FGES representatives, the press release said.

More to come? FBC aims to establish six Finnish-British schools and an international university in Egypt over the next decade, at an initial investment cost of EGP 1.2 bn, CEO Karim El Safty said.

This is the first big announcement out of Sodic since Aldar Properties and Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ in December acquired 85.5% of the company in an all-cash, EGP 6.1 bn transaction. SODIC shareholders will vote on the company’s new board of directors at an extraordinary general meeting on Sunday, 16 January.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.