EFG Hermes launches brand for Saudi-led education platform amid growth drive

EFG Hermes’ private equity arm has launched MindSpire Education as the umbrella brand for its K-12 education brand across the Arab world, the firm said in a press release (pdf). It’s the launch of a regional group brand — not a cosmetic relabelling of Spark Education Platform (SEP) — EFG Hermes Co-CEO Karim Moussa tells EnterpriseAM, and comes with a fresh investment in the Kingdom: Egypt-born Hayah Schools will open its first Riyadh campus in the summer of 2027.

“Hayah has one of the highest IB scores in the region, not just in Egypt,” Moussa tells us. “It’s a brand that deserves to grow across the region.” The Riyadh launch is being positioned as the flagship integration of MindSpire’s operating platform with Hayah's academic model and a STEM track from Fulton Science Academy in the US — a partnership EFG Hermes has now expanded specifically to support the Saudi build-out. This also follows the launch of GEMS American School in Saudi Arabia last summer, with GEMS British School set to open its doors this summer, Moussa says.

MindSpire has big regional ambitions, Moussa says, explaining, “We are an Arab education company focused on our cultural heritage, our character building, and the Arabic language as cornerstones.” EFG Hermes built deep K-12 capabilities in Egypt, “exported” that to Saudi Arabia, and is now leading with a regional brand. The bet is that an Arab-rooted, operator-driven K-12 group with Egyptian academic depth and Saudi capital can do something the regional sector hasn't seen done at scale.

The investment playbook: MindSpire “is not just a private equity play of investing and aggregating,” Moussa tells EnterpriseAM. “It is a play centered around a very strong operator.” That playbook is made clear with how EFG Hermes approaches these investments — it looks at schools that need help or restructuring, as well as “local champions” that are family- or founder-built brands that simply lack the capital and operating muscle to scale regionally. The fund also works on greenfield investments. The mix going forward will be opportunistic, Moussa told us — acquisitions and greenfield openings will both be on the menu on a case-by-case basis, he says.

By the numbers: EFG's Saudi Education Fund — which is backing MindSpire — has raised more than USD 200 mn in commitments against a USD 300 mn target, with over half of that already deployed, Moussa tells us. The fund — separate from the firm’s earlier USD 150 mn Egypt education vehicle, which is fully deployed — has financed six Saudi schools in roughly a year. Three of those schools were acquisitions, while another three were new builds, Moussa said.