Nadim Nsouli: The story of the Lebanese-British entrepreneur buying private schools in Athens

Recently, the education giant Inspired announced the acquisition of the Kostea-Geitona schools and plans for developments in the Elliniko area. Many wondered about the Lebanese-British powerhouse behind Inspired who made this super deal. But for Nadim Nsouli, founder, chairman, and CEO of Inspired, this isn’t new. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job of staying under the radar despite the size of our company,” he often remarks when faced with such attention.

Indeed, for the man who leads a group providing education to over 90,000 students in 115 schools on six continents, valued at more than $4 billion (with his personal wealth just under $1 billion), staying “under the radar” is quite the accomplishment. His journey is remarkable, and his life story even more compelling, featuring both professional success and a devastating family tragedy.

Early Years

Born in 1969 in Lebanon, Nsouli witnessed various phases of his homeland, Beirut—once known as the “Jewel of the Middle East”—from times of joy and celebration to war, destruction, and economic collapse. Although he holds British citizenship, Lebanon has always been close to his heart, demonstrated by his support for educational programs for Palestinians and his low-profile charitable efforts.

Unlike many, Nsouli didn’t experience extreme hardship growing up. His family enjoyed social status and financial security. In Lebanon, during difficult times, people often said that those renting houses from the Church or the Nsouli family—early investors in real estate—were the lucky ones. His family was known for being considerate about rent increases and flexible with payment delays.

Nsouli’s father, Dr. Marwan Nsouli, is a prominent figure globally. A lawyer who began his career providing legal support to businesses, Dr. Nsouli worked for a prestigious American law firm and spent 14 years in the legal department of the World Bank in Washington, D.C. In 1998, he was appointed deputy governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank, later becoming its governor, holding the position until 2008.

His father instilled in his children a love for law, business, and economics. Both of Nadim’s brothers, Samer and Karim, went on to become successful hedge fund managers.

A Career from Age 17

Nadim Nsouli’s path, however, was different. At 17, he left Lebanon to pursue his dreams in the United States. He followed in his father’s footsteps, earning a Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University in 1991, a law degree from New York University in 1994, and an MBA from INSEAD in 1997.

While excelling academically, he also began building his career. His first job was at the prestigious New York law firm Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue. However, he quickly transitioned to investment banking, working in the media and telecom division at JP Morgan in New York, and later at Morgan Stanley in London.

Before the age of 30, his career was thriving, and he had already accumulated enough capital to establish his venture capital firm, Lago Ventures. Later, he joined The Gores Group in London, a private equity fund specializing in distressed assets, which played a key role in his career. He became one of the most sought-after names in investment banking and business.

He then took on the role of Managing Director at Providence Equity Partners, one of the largest global private equity firms, focusing on expanding the firm’s investments in education, sparking his realization that private education was a sector with huge profit potential but few investors. This idea laid the foundation for the creation of Inspired in 2013, a global group of premium private schools.

The “Second Homeland” and Family Tragedy

Nsouli’s career took a brief pause when he met Simone Cheatham, a woman from the Bahamas, while living in London. They quickly became a couple and married, sharing a deep love for the Bahamas, which Nsouli calls his “second homeland.” Together, they had four children: Laila, Zaid, Aidan, and Liv. However, tragedy struck with the birth of their first child, Laila.

In 2011, Laila was diagnosed with an aggressive and inoperable brain tumor (DIPG). Despite extensive treatments and global research efforts, Laila passed away just after turning three years old in January 2012. The Nsoulis have since dedicated themselves to raising awareness and funding research for DIPG, a rare childhood cancer.

The loss of Laila profoundly affected their lives and has since shaped much of their charitable work and personal outlook.

This was something the Nsouli family would never overcome. With “broken hearts,” as they describe it, they decided to establish the Lyla Nsouli Foundation for Children’s Brain Cancer Research, aimed at finding a cure for brain cancer. “Its first goal is to focus on the worst form of brain cancer, DIPG. After what happened to our daughter, we feel obligated to do everything we can to prevent this disease from violently destroying the lives of children (and their families) and to try to improve the prognosis for these children, ultimately finding a cure.”

On the foundation’s board (which raises substantial donations from around the world to fund research efforts) are, along with Nadim and Simone Nsouli, Princess Ghida Talal, daughter of the late King Hussein of Jordan, and Waleed Fakri, co-founder of Core Capital, alongside some of the most distinguished scientists specializing in pediatric cancer from the U.S. and the U.K.

The Birth of a Giant

In 2013, while managing the family tragedy, Nadim Nsouli seized an investment gap he had observed, seeing it as a major opportunity. He founded two companies, Inspired Group and Educas (the latter being Inspired’s investment vehicle), and invested in Reddam House, a prestigious school group in South Africa. This was the spark for the group’s global expansion, beginning with Reddam House, which he acquired and expanded by building nine more schools in South Africa, as well as Reddam House Berkshire near Wokingham in England. In 2015, the school grounds at Winnersh were taken over by Bearwood College.

Nsouli’s plan was going well. In just nine years, he had created the largest educational group in the world, which, starting with just four schools in South Africa, grew to manage 111 prestigious schools with 80,000 students across five continents. Then, in 2023, he became a “Person of Interest” for Europe’s elite—and beyond. Quietly, as he built his group, Nsouli—through Inspired—acquired the majority stake in the renowned Wetherby School.

This is the school from which we have photos of Princess Diana sending off the future king of England, Prince William, and his brother Harry. It is also the school where David and Victoria Beckham enrolled their children when they entered the country’s elite, and where the children of the most prominent families in the U.K.—and beyond—attend.

With the kindergarten boasting a huge waiting list, British newspapers began seeking out the wealthy new owner of Wetherby to introduce him to the public—a man whom shipowners, bankers, politicians, celebrities, and major businessmen were trying to convince to help secure spots for their children at the school. They discovered that the group that had acquired Wetherby was not just boosting its prestige with this acquisition but already held stakes—if not full ownership—in some of the world’s most renowned schools.

Moreover, it had strong investment backing, with billions of dollars invested in the company by some of the world’s most famous investors, such as GIC (the Singaporean sovereign wealth fund), TA Associates, Warburg Pincus, Stonepeak, and the Oppenheimer and Mansour family offices.

Not surprisingly, in six investment rounds, Inspired has raised over $2 billion, with the latest round on August 18, 2023, dominated by HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, which contributed $652.46 million. Nsouli sees this as nothing but positive: “The bigger the company, the better the job we’re doing. I mean, you won’t have customers if you’re doing a bad job, right?” he says. “If you don’t offer an excellent product—because that’s what it boils down to at the end of the day—why would people come to our schools?”

The answer to this “why” is simple and not only explained by the prestige of the schools but more so by the fact that Inspired guarantees that the children attending its schools will succeed in getting into the world’s top universities. This is why Nsouli’s group has faced criticism, which relates to both the continuous and demanding testing of students (to constantly assess and maintain their high level and competitiveness) and the rigorous screening of teaching staff—something Nsouli justifies with the argument that the best schools must have the best teaching personnel available.

What He Wants in Greece

For many, it may come as a surprise, but in reality, the entry of Nadim Nsouli’s group into the private education sector in Greece seems like a…fated development. The entry of Inspired Education Group into Greek private education began with Moraitis School and continued with Kostea-Geitonas Schools (CGS).

With his latest investment move, Nsouli, who typically targets only premium schools, managed to gain a foothold in Europe’s largest and most prestigious project at the moment: Ellinikon. Killing two birds with one stone, so to speak, as it is not only the prestige of acquiring these private educational institutions but also the fact that in May, CGS signed a long-term lease agreement with Hellinikon SA (Lamda Development) for an initial duration of 30 years, with the option for a further 30-year extension.

The agreement stipulates that CGS will undertake the development and operation of a modern primary and secondary educational institution in the A-P4 Zoning Area within the Hellinikon-Agios Kosmas Metropolitan Park. The institution will be named CGS at The Ellinikon. In fact, sources tell Thema that Inspired and Nsouli personally have agreed to fully fund the development of the educational complex at Ellinikon, which has already become a magnet for the world’s most powerful families. Based on Nsouli’s logical thinking, these families will need a nearby premium school to send their children to.

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