GEMS Education’s First School Management (FSM) signs strategic partnership with school operator, Spark Education Platform (SEP), to launch GEMS-branded schools  

Dubai, May 29, 2025: First School Management (FSM), the schools advisory initiative by GEMS Education, has signed its first intellectual property agreement with Spark Education Platform (SEP) to launch the GEMS brand in select schools in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.   

SEP’s portfolio comprises four schools with a capacity of 10,000 plus students, targeting to grow to more than 20 schools with 20,000 enrolled students across Saudi Arabia and the GCC over the next five years. Owned by the Saudi Education Fund (SEF), SEP is managed by EFG Hermes, an EFG Holding company and investment bank in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). 

As part of the long-term contract, FSM will provide a focused suite of services under a licensing arrangement to support SEP’s operatorship of the GEMS-branded schools. The implementation of these services will ensure that the new schools adhere to the standards set by GEMS Education.   

Sunny Varkey, Chairman and Founder of GEMS Education and the Varkey Foundation, says, “Our vision has always been to make world-class education accessible to as many students as possible. The launch of First School Management is a natural extension of this commitment, and this partnership with Spark Education Platform is the first of many. We are seeing strong global demand for our expertise and are excited about the opportunities ahead as we continue to support schools in delivering outstanding education in diverse international contexts.”  

Expressing enthusiasm for the collaboration, Karim Moussa, Co-CEO of EFG Hermes, says, “After our great success story in Egypt, I am honoured to expand our partnership with First School Management into Saudi Arabia and Bahrain as key GCC markets with significant demand for new high-quality K-12 education capacities.”  

Ahmed Wahby, CEO of Spark Education Platform (SEP), says, “Together, we are not just building and transforming schools – we are shaping a brighter future of education.”  

FSM, launched in November 2024, brings together multi-disciplinary teams of experts who provide hands-on support to schools, helping them navigate challenges and achieve operational success. By combining international best practices with locally relevant strategies, FSM ensures that partner schools’ benefit from the knowledge gained over decades of experience from the family-run GEMS group.