Omar Danial - Founder Of Swiss International Scientific School In Dubai

Omar Danial explains how he established a $165 million boarding school in Dubai, and why the Swiss IB system is a key differentiator.

Swiss International Scientific School opened in 2015 and now has 1,200 students. That’s a big operation. You didn’t have experience in the education sector prior to this, so what led you to establish a boarding school in Dubai?

I’m a Swiss national and ran businesses in hospitality in Geneva where I created a chain of boutique hotels. I also have experience of private equity and am a financial entrepreneur specialising in hospitality. I have six children and when I moved to Dubai in 2010 I noticed there were no schools following the Swiss Baccalaureate curriculum, so to cut a long story short, I decided to set one up. We had a choice to be here and it was out of a personal need as a parent.

I was also encouraged by specialists in education that surround me. I went to all the people that I had worked with in the educational field in Switzerland and sought their council. I have taught entrepreneurship classes in Switzerland and I went to my contacts at the tertiary and university level. I explained the basis for establishing a Swiss international school in Dubai. They thought it was a wonderful idea and said they would support me. I had a lot of encouraging support from people that were highly respected, and some are now part of the board here in the school.

What challenges did you face securing funding?

The UAE wasn’t as mature as it is now when I started to finance the bricks and mortar of the school. The most common type of funding available was mainly bank funding. But there’s a mismatch between what an educational facility needs, which is long-term funding, and the funding that was available, which was very short-term.