Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) has extended 14.42 million in financing to Bloom Education, the schools arm of UAE-based Bloom Holding, to help the company weather the coronavirus pandemic and scale up its operations.
The funding is part of a $0.27 billion initiative launched last year by ADFD to help Emirati-owned businesses overcome the pandemic and enable them to grow stronger. The education company, which currently operates eight schools in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, is one of the first beneficiaries of ADFD’s initiative to support UAE companies.
“The ADFD initiative met with an overwhelming response from national companies,” said Rashid Al Kaabi, director of investment at the fund, adding that its technical committee had already studied requests from 51 companies in recent months, of which it identified 20 as prospective candidates.
“A series of applications have been approved, while the remainder are under review, with the final decision expected to be taken within the first half of this year,” he added.
To qualify for funding, a company must be registered in the UAE and its annual returns should not be less than $21.7 million.
The initiative is one of several measures taken by ADFD to support the country’s economy and encourage joint investment in the development and implementation of new projects on a global scale. Over the past 10 years, the fund has provided $4.49 billion in financing for Emirati companies to set up projects abroad.
“The financing will help us perform better as we make bigger plans for the future,” Rashid Khalfan bin Amer Althakhri, member of the board of governors of Bloom Education’s Brighton College in the UAE, said.
The UAE has rolled out economic support packages worth more than $105.6 billion since the coronavirus pandemic began to help businesses and individuals.
Bloom Education
Bloom Education was one of three operators selected by the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) in 2019 to run the first phase of new Charter Schools which will offer American-based curriculums to kindergarten and elementary levels pupils.
