Welwitschia School attracks private equity investor
Johannes !Gawaxab, Executive Chairman of the local private equity firm Eos Capital, has confirmed that the firm is in discussions with the board, management and parents of Welwitschia School to invest in the Windhoek-based private school.
Welwitschia is the only Namibian curriculum mainstream school that also caters for children with barriers to learning such as dyslexia, ADHD, cerebral palsy and autism.
“Eos has raised N$460 million from local Namibian investors including pension funds and private individuals to invest in local Namibian companies that we believe have the potential to grow and deliver healthy returns. These investments are made through the Allegrow Fund managed by Eos,” !Gawaxab said.
Eos will invest in the Welwitschia School to provide capital for expansion as well as acquisition and installation of modern equipment; to enable the school to recruit strong faculty and provide quality education to more children while retaining its differentiator of smaller classes and more focused teaching.
Aileen Botha, the school board chairperson, says that discussions are also underway with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders such as NIED. The plan is not only to grow the mainstream academic school which currently caters for 239 learners, most of which have various barriers to learning, but also to develop a parallel vocational training centre (VTC) during the course of 2017. This will contribute to bridging the skills gap and unemployment challenges faced by the country.
Says Botha: “We are excited that Welwitschia has found a financial partner who is aligned with our vision of developing a fully-fledged school that also caters for learners with special needs, while further expanding our offering to include a vocational training centre. This allows us to make our dream of building a sustainable school with proper facilities at an affordable rate to our learners true, while developing a VTC parallel to the academic school, for our learners to slot in to.”
Based on the steady increase in applications for Welwitschia School in the 2017 academic year, school principal Tiensie Dry has welcomed the Eos opportunity.
It comes at a time when the school is in desperate need of development funding to meet the growing demand for high quality focused education, with higher teacher-learner ratios and vocational subjects.
Welwitschia is the only Namibian curriculum mainstream school that also caters for children with barriers to learning such as dyslexia, ADHD, cerebral palsy and autism.
“Eos has raised N$460 million from local Namibian investors including pension funds and private individuals to invest in local Namibian companies that we believe have the potential to grow and deliver healthy returns. These investments are made through the Allegrow Fund managed by Eos,” !Gawaxab said.
Eos will invest in the Welwitschia School to provide capital for expansion as well as acquisition and installation of modern equipment; to enable the school to recruit strong faculty and provide quality education to more children while retaining its differentiator of smaller classes and more focused teaching.
Aileen Botha, the school board chairperson, says that discussions are also underway with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders such as NIED. The plan is not only to grow the mainstream academic school which currently caters for 239 learners, most of which have various barriers to learning, but also to develop a parallel vocational training centre (VTC) during the course of 2017. This will contribute to bridging the skills gap and unemployment challenges faced by the country.
Says Botha: “We are excited that Welwitschia has found a financial partner who is aligned with our vision of developing a fully-fledged school that also caters for learners with special needs, while further expanding our offering to include a vocational training centre. This allows us to make our dream of building a sustainable school with proper facilities at an affordable rate to our learners true, while developing a VTC parallel to the academic school, for our learners to slot in to.”
Based on the steady increase in applications for Welwitschia School in the 2017 academic year, school principal Tiensie Dry has welcomed the Eos opportunity.
It comes at a time when the school is in desperate need of development funding to meet the growing demand for high quality focused education, with higher teacher-learner ratios and vocational subjects.
Kommentaar
Republikein
Geen kommentaar is op hierdie artikel gelaat nie