ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROJECT - SUNNY VARKEY - CLASS 11TH

1. 2014-2015
Profile of an
Entrepreneur
Sunny Varkey
The founder of GEMS
Education
Name :- Bibbin Benny
Alex
Class :- 11-E
Roll No :- 11
Sharjah Indian School

2. Index
S.No Topic Sign
1. Introduction
2. Early Life and Education
3. Career
4. Varkey Gems Foundation
5. Varkey Group
6. Honors
7. Personal Life
8 Conclusion
9. Bibiography

3. Acknowledgement
First of all I would like to thank almighty
God for showering his blessings on me.
This project would have been impossible
without the kind support, guidance and
care give to me by my beloved Professor
James Thomas .I would like to give my
sincere thanks to him as well as my
parents and friends for helping me to
make this successful.

4. Introduction
Sunny Varkey (born in 1957 in Kerala, India) is a non-
resident Indian, Dubai-basededucationentrepreneur
and educationphilanthropist. He is the founder and
chairman of the global advisory and educational
management firm GEMSEducation, which is the
largest operator of private kindergarten-to-grade-12
schools in the world, with a network of over 130
schools in over a dozen countries. He is also the
chairman of the umbrella business organizationthe
Varkey Group, and the founder and trustee of the
philanthropic Varkey GEMS Foundation. As of 2012,
Varkey is also a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

5. Early life and Education
Varkey was born in Kerala, Indiain 1957. His father,
KS, and mother, Miriamma, were Kerala Christians,
and educators. The family moved to Dubai in 1959,
when the emirate was still very undeveloped. His
father worked for British Bank of the MiddleEast, and
both of his parents taught English to local Arabs,
includingmembers of the royal family. At the age of
four, Sunny was sent back to Kerala to attend a
Catholic boarding school. When he was 11 years old,
he sold fruit on the side of the road to make a little
extra money. He and his elder sister returned to
Dubai in 1970 and Sunny completed his O-
Levels at St. Mary's Catholic High School. He
pursued his A-Levels at Bembridge School in the
UK for a year, and completed his A-Levels in
Dubai at the British Council.

6. Career
GEMS Education
History
The discovery of oil in Dubai in 1966 brought in many
foreign workers, including many from the Indian
subcontinent;with the increaseddemand for an
English-languageeducation for the children of Indian
expatriates, Varkey's parents founded Our Own
English High School in Dubai in 1968. Varkey returned
to Dubai in 1977, and his employment includedwork
at Standard Chartered bank, opening a small trading
company and a maintenance company, becoming part
owner of the Dubai Plaza Hotel, and entering the
healthcare industry. When in 1980 local authorities
insistedthat his parents' Our Own English High School
be housed in a purpose-builtfacility, Varkey took over
the operation of the school, which had under 400
students at the time. He soon dropped his other
businesses,expandedthe school, and added new
schools as well. The education situationin Dubai was
ripe for expansion, since local schools were only for
native Arabs, and the children of the ever-increasing

7. number of expats needed education of their
own. Varkey opened Indian, Pakistani, and British
schools, and offered education under the different
curricula: Indian(CBSE and ICSE), U.S., British,and
later International Baccalaureate.
After creating a strong network of schools in the Gulf
Arab states, in 2000 Varkey established Global
EducationManagement Systems (GEMS), an advisory
and educational management firm, in advance of his
worldwide overseas expansion. In 2003, he began
opening GEMS schools in England, beginningwith
Sherborne Housein Hampshireand Bury Lawn in
Milton Keynes. Soon afterwards, he took over Sherfield
School in Hampshire, and purchased another 10
schools in England, mainly in the north.
In 2004, Varkey's GEMS group opened its first schools
in India. Varkey continuedto add schools in the
subcontinent, and also purchased a controlling
interest in the India-based EveronnEducation, which
the Varkey Group and GEMSmanage. GEMS
subsequently opened schools in Kenya, Uganda, Egypt,
Jordan, Libya, Singapore, the U.S., Switzerland, and
elsewhere around the globe. It is the largest operator
of private kindergarten-to-grade-12 schools in the
world, and as of 2014 has over 130 schools in over a
dozen countries.

8. Structure and philosophy
Varkey's GEMS schools are establishedinvarious price
brackets, to serve all markets and income levels. The
more expensiveschools have more spacious grounds
and amenities such as golf and tennis facilities, and
smaller class sizes. Educationalquality is maintained
in the budget-range schools by usingexcellent
teachers, by efficiency and economization on time and
space, and by capitalizingon economies of scale: the
huge network of GEMS schools shares resources and
information and provides training to teachers across
the whole system. When entering into new markets
GEMS schools also benefit from local partners who
understand local conditions;the partners provide
local knowledge that may not be obvious through
standard market research. GEMSschools aim to offer a
holistic education, and to instillstudents with values
of altruism and philanthropy. GEMSEducationis
geared to form graduates who are forward-thinking
global citizens with universalvalues and leadership
qualities. For GEMSstudents, Varkey stresses an
ideology and atmosphere of multiculturalism, and the
importance of giving back to others both locally and
globally.

9. GEMS Education Solutions
GEMS has two divisions:schools and educational
services. GEMSEducationSolutions is the consultancy
arm of GEMS Education, providingeducational
services and advice, and it was establishedin 2011.It
works with governments and non-profits, and public
and privateclients, to transform the quality of global
education and skills provision, usingthe resources of
GEMS' more than 50 years of experience in the field.
One of GEMS EducationSolutions' projects is assisting
and advisingthe state school systemin the United
Arab Emirates. In Ghana, it implements MGCubed –
Making Ghana Girls Great – which equips two
classrooms in each Ghanaian primary school school
with a computer, projector, satellite modem, and solar
panels, creating an interactivedistance-learning
platform to deliverboth formal in-school teaching and
informal after-school training. The project teaches
8,000students in 72 Ghanaianschools, and is Sub-
Saharan Africa’s first interactivedistance-learning
project. In Saudi Arabia, via the Oxford Partnership,
GEMS EducationSolutions co-manages three newly
built women's vocational colleges. The three-year
diploma programmes includetraining in IT,

10. communication, basic sciences, and English language,
before moving onto specialisationand on-the-job
training.

11. Varkey GEMS Foundation
Varkey's strong spiritualvalues, and the example of
his father, gave him a passion for philanthropy. In
December 2010, he consolidated and structured his
various donations and charitable initiatives by
creating the Varkey GEMS Foundation as the
philanthropic arm of GEMS. The foundation intends to
impact 100 impoverishedchildrenfor every child
enrolled at GEMS schools, via enrollment and
education-access initiatives,worldwideteacher
training programs, advocacy campaigns, and physical
projects such as buildingclassrooms, schools, and
learning centers Bill Clinton launched the foundation
and is its honorary chairman.
In March 2011, the GEMSFoundation partnered
with UNESCO for girls'
education in Lesotho and Kenya, and donated
$1,000,000to the effort. In September 2011, a further
$1 million was pledged with UNESCO to train 10,000
school principals in India, Ghana, and Kenya. In 2014,
the foundation's Teacher TrainingProgramme
committed to train 250,000 teachers within10 years

12. in under-servedcommunities across the world. In
2013, the Varkey GEMSFoundation helped launch the
annual Global Educationand Skills Forum, in
partnershipwith UNESCO and the U.A.E. Ministryof
EducationBill Clinton gave the inaugural keynote
address. Varkey hopes the annual forum will become
the "Davos of education". At the second annual forum
in March 2014, Varkey announced the Global Teacher
Prize, a $1 million award to an exceptional teacher
who has made an outstanding contributionto the
profession, to be presented at the third annual GESF in
2015.

13. Varkey Group
Varkey Group is the umbrella organization covering
GEMS Educationand Varkey's other businesses,
includinghealthcare and, previously,
construction. Varkey founded the company in 1979,
and it is basedin Dubai, with additional offices in the
UK, U.S., and India. In 1984 Varkey founded Welcare, a
healthcare consultancy and management venture
which developed a number of hospitals and clinics. A
controlling interest in Emirates Healthcare, the Varkey
Group's umbrella company which held Welcare, was
purchasedby Mediclinic International in 2012. The
sale of his healthcare sector allowed Varkey to focus
on education and educational philanthropy.

14. Honors
Global Indian Business Award(2007)
CEO Middle EastAward – Corporate Social
Responsibility (2007)
OutstandingAsianBusinessmanof the Year (2007)
Rajiv Gandhi Award for EminentEducationist
(2008)
Padma Shri Award (2009)
Honorary Order – Public Recognitionaward from
the Governmentof Russia(2011)
Middle East Excellence CEO of the Year – Knowledge
Development and EducationPartnership(2012)
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador(2012)
EducationBusiness Leader of the Year, Gulf
Business Industry Awards (2012)
Honorary Doctorate, Heriot-Watt University (2012)

15. Personal life
Varkey lives in Dubai. He is married and has two sons,
Dino and Jay, who have taken leadershiproles in GEMS
Education, allowing him to focus on his philanthropic
foundation. Varkey's sister, Susan Mathews, runs pre-
schools, and his wife and mother work behindthe
scenes posing tough questions about all of his
endeavors.His personalinterests outside of work
include physicalfitness and custom-made fashionable
attire.

16. Conclusion
Sunny Varkey seems to be an innovativeand dynamic
entrepreneur. He is a successfulentrepreneur who
achievedeverythingthrough hard work. His values
andattitude towards life is really an inspiringone. He
is really a motivationfor new entrepreneur. Going
through this project I really inspiredby his works and
innovations. I wish all the best for him and his group.
I am thankful to my teacher for giving me such a good
project.

17. Bibliography
 www.wikipedia.com
 www.googleimages.com
 www.gulfnews.com
 www.gems.com