Interstar strikes balance between affordability and excellence in education

A relatively resilient economy that continues to attract expatriate workers and their families has made the United Arab Emirates a fertile ground for schools and colleges. As a result, education has become big sector in the country, a trend that can also be seen in other parts of the GCC region.
Amid a thriving industry, Dinesh C. Kothari, Chairman of Interstar Advisory Services, believes the education sector still faces the challenge of balancing affordability with academic excellence. Since launching his first school in India, Kothari has strived - and succeeded - in maintaining this fine balance to a tee.
"In the field of education, the formula is very simple," he begins. "You need to have high-quality academics at affordable cost."
A former CEO of a Sharjah-based multi-sectoral conglomerate - with interests in construction, real estate, oil and gas, information technology, and retail - Kothari eventually set up his own business and dipped his toes into investment and merchant banking.
His first foray into education came in 1997, when he set up a not-for-profit school in his hometown of Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India in memory of his grandfather, who was a teacher.
By 2000, he brought his educational management know-how to Sharjah, with the opening of UAE's first Delhi Private School (DPS), which follows the Indian curriculum. Three years later, a second DPS was unveiled in the Gardens in Dubai, followed by Victory Heights Primary School, a British curriculum institution, in 2013 also in Dubai.
As his schools gain momentum, Kothari was compelled to set up Interstar Advisory Services in 2013. The family-run holding company has been dedicated to managing investments in its network of five K-12 educational institutions in the UAE and India.
Expanding portfolio
The Delhi Private School brand is one of Kothari's success stories. The Sharjah campus has a population of more than 6,000 students, while the Dubai campus has 3,800 students and was rated highly by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Dubai's educational quality assurance and regulatory agency.
Victory Heights Primary School is also a thriving hub for learning at the heart of Dubai Sports City. On the whole, Interstar's portfolio of K-12 schools in the UAE and India currently caters to the needs of more than 16,000 students.
Kothari believes that what sets them apart from the competition is their ability to charge reasonably, without sacrificing the quality of their service.
"If you look at the price point of all our schools, we are extremely competitive. We don't charge exorbitant fees, despite having a track record of producing very good results. We continue to attract students, which is evident in our long waiting list," he said.
Biggest investment
Although Interstar invests in providing modern facilities, such as state-of-the-art classrooms, Olympic-size swimming pools, cricket grounds, football fields, and arts and crafts centres, Kothari emphasised that a chunk of their investment go towards the training of their faculty.
"What we focus on is providing top quality education by investing in our faculty's continuous professional development," he explained. " On economic front, of course, we want to stay afloat and not make losses, but we are not profit driven. Our main drivers are our faculty and students; and we invest a lot of money in them."
Kothari added that the one of the major challenges facing the education sector in the UAE is getting well-trained teachers. To address this concern, Interstar invests in professional development programme geared towards training their teachers. The programme has also become an effective employee retention strategy and a huge draw for new talent.
"At the end of the day, a good school is shaped by the quality of its teachers. Not the buildings, swimming pools or playgrounds. Eventually your school will be known by the faculty that you have," he said. "We are very fortunate that our attrition rate is among the lowest in the UAE. And that's not because we pay our teachers a lot of money. We invest in their professional growth, and provide healthy environment which is why they want to stay with us."
Growth prospects
Kothari said Interstar shows no sign of letting up. In the next five years, the company plans to widen its operations by opening more schools in India and the UAE.
" We have plans to open two more British-curriculum schools in the UAE. One will be located in Dubai, where we are currently in the process of applying to the KHDA for an academic license. The other is in Northern Emirates where we are investigating various options".
He expects the schools to open during the 2018/2019 academic years, with construction work due to commence very shortly.
In addition, Interstar is embarking on the creation of another campus of Delhi Private School in Sharjah, which will serve as a feeder school for its existing campus. In the next two years, the company also hopes to build three new schools in the UAE, although details have yet to be announced.
In India, Interstar is also expanding. "We have acquired additional land, where we plan to set up two Indian-curriculum schools. It is also located in the state of Rajasthan, but not in the city of Jodhpur," Kothari noted.
The opening of these schools will take a bit longer than their UAE counterparts, he explained, due to the regulatory approvals in India, particularly with regard to land-use conversion - that is, converting agricultural land for other use.
Doing what it does best
Kothari, who has been living in the UAE for more than 40 years, said Interstar will continue to embark on what it does best, which is education and corporate advisory services.
At the moment, the company has no plans to venture into higher education. Instead, it will focus on strengthening its position in the K-12 segment, which is a booming category in the UAE's education sector.
Through Interstar, Kothari, together with his son, is also offering advisory services to companies across the region. The firm specialises in mergers and acquisitions, takeovers and industrial turnaround.
But education will remain a main focus for the company in the foreseeable future and beyond.