Ayala goes into education with UK partner

Goal: To become one of largest educators in Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Conglomerate Ayala Corp. (AC), in partnership with the world’s leading learning company, is putting up 12 low-cost private schools nationwide.

The $4-million investment for new schools jumpstarts AC’s bid to become the largest educator catering to the service sector, an executive said.

“Our emphasis this year is starting to apply lessons learned from the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector to the education sector,” said Fred I. Ayala, CEO of Liveit Investments Ltd.

“Our goal is to become one of largest educators in the country specifically catering to the service sector like information technology-BPO,” Ayala said.

The local IT-BPO sector employed 900,000 workers last year, posting a 20-percent growth from a year ago. It is expected to employ 1.3 million Filipinos this year.

Ayala said that amid the big demand for Filipino talent for the IT-BPO sector, Affordable Private Education Centres (APEC) will improve the students’ employability through low-cost but quality education.

APEC is focused on highschool and college students, and graduates looking to retool themselves, Ayala said. For its part, AC will invest $4 million for 12 new schools nationwide, Ayala said.

In January, AC subsidiary Liveit Global Services Management Institute partnered with British firm Pearson Affordable Learning Fund to set up APEC, a new chain of low-cost secondary schools in the Philippines. Pearson is an expert in building low-cost school chains given its operations in Ghana, Kenya, India and Bangladesh.

APEC will open a dozen schools in areas like Quezon City, Caloocan, Marikina, Pasig and Manila with the capacity to accommodate 2,000 to 3,000 students, Ayala said.

Ayala said the schools chain will expand the pool of qualified IT-BPO employees and reduce the attrition rate in the booming sector.

In particular, APEC will ensure IT-BPO companies of a robust supply of employees that are proficient in English and skilled in computer tasks.

Ayala said APEC will also hone the the students’ work ethic, adding that AC has hired graduates of the pilot program for its automotive, banking,water distribution and telecommunications units.

Liveit Investments Ltd. is the holding firm for AC’s investments in the BPO sector, particularly through Integreon (knowledge service), Affinity Express (advertising and marketing production) and IQBackOffice (finance and accounting).