STI to hike capital to P1B for expansion

The STI school chain will increase its capital base to P1 billion within the year as it gears up for a major expansion program within the next three to five years, its president and CEO Chito Salazar said.

In a briefing with reporters, Salazar said the additional fund infusion "will enable us to strengthen our existing school network, provide the IT backbone for other key strategic initiatives and build up operations for global expansion."

STI started in 1983 with three training centers and less than a thousand students but has since expanded to become the country’s largest and most successful network of IT-based educational institution with over 100 schools and more than 80,000 students.

Salazar said the increase in capital from their present base of P400 mllion would help jumpstart their expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, including the establishment of STI schools in the US, China, Japan, Vientam, Singapore, Pakistan and Bangladesh. There are at present three offshore STI schools – two in Taiwan and one in Hong Kong.

From an IT training and learning institution, STI has also evolved into a wholistic educational institution that offers IT-enhanced courses starting from pre-school up to the high school levels.

The STI head added that part of their expansion plans include the graduation of STI itself from collegiate level to university status, offering a multi-disciplinary field ranging from arts and sciences, nursing, accounting, engineering and education, all with emphasis on IT applications.

In addition, STI will branch out into the A-B market niche as it is set to formalize next month a tie-up with a US-based IT institute, said to be the biggest of its kind in the world, to open by June next year an exclusive IT college in the heart of Makati.

The company will use the recently acquired Bank of Commerce building along Ayala Avenue as its corporate headquarters and to house the new exclusive school.

Salazar said a further expansion of STI’s network would involve the setting up of cyberhubs, or small local sites of about 10 computer terminals, targetted in every town to make IT accessible even to far-flung areas in the country.

STI’s present chain of 110 schools are mostly under franchise, with only 16 establishments directly owned by the company. Aside from the quality of IT education, STI’s rapid expansion could also be attributed to its affordable tuition fees and accessibility. This schoolyear, its total enrollment grew by 25 percent.

Last year, the company earned P55 million on total revenues of P400 million. In the three years’ time, Salazar said they will be aiming for a P1-billion revenue goal, eventually priming itself up for a possible listing at the Philippine Stock Exchange and in foreign bourses such as the Singapore and US technology boards.