Born in Kerala, Sunny Varkey is a Dubai-based NRI who is a billionaire education entrepreneur and philanthropist. He founded GEMS Education, the world's largest operator of K-12 schools. The 66-year-old has a real-time net worth of Rs 26,640 crore, as per Forbes.
He is India's second-richest billionaire in the service sector, as per Forbes' World's Richest Persons List. Currently, he is on 923th position on the list. His company, GEMS Education, is one of the oldest and largest Kindergarten to Grade 12 / Year 13 private education providers in the world.
His sons Dino and Jay run GEMS as CEO and group executive director, respectively. In 2019, the private education firm secured CVC Capital Partners as its key investor. Sunny Varkey is the son of Indian expat teachers -- KS and Mariamma Varkey -- who migrated to Dubai from Kerala in 1959.
His parents founded 'Our Own English High School' in Dubai in 1968. At the age of four, Sunny was sent back to Kerala for his schooling in Kollam. At 11, he even sold fruit on the side of the road to make a little extra money. He and his elder sister returned to Dubai in 1970.
Varkey never went beyond high school. He took over the management of his parents' Our Own English School in 1980 at age 23. He is also the chairman of the umbrella business organisation the Varkey Group, and the founder and trustee of the philanthropic Varkey Foundation.
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