The company seeking investors with “nerves of steel”

Published: October 30, 2023

  

Miscellaneous

Bijan Fahimi, CEO of the Nasdaq-listed Tellusgruppen, views his company as an aggressive player in a conservative industry. He has strong opinions about which investors are a good fit for the industry and his company.

“It’s been a long time since the independent school was a place for fortune seekers and short-sighted speculators. We’re looking for investors with a warm heart and nerves of steel, and we welcome those who believe in our vision that social good and profit can go hand in hand,” says Bijan Fahimi.  

Tellusgruppen is one of the fastest-growing players in the independent school sector, with operations in preschool, elementary school, educational resources, and childcare. The group has grown by an average of over 30 percent annually, both organically and through acquisitions.  

– If you’re going to run an independent school, you have to deliver high quality, take a long-term view, and be able to withstand both objective and subjective scrutiny. It’s not enough to be good—you have to be excellent.  

Bijan Fahimi believes that Tellusgruppen has demonstrated that business acumen and social impact are not mutually exclusive. The Group’s ambition is to provide solutions to some of the most difficult challenges facing the Swedish school system, such as school segregation and digitalization. According to Bijan Fahimi, delivering results leads to sustainable returns in a stable industry.

Are you an investor with nerves of steel?

– The education sector is not very sensitive to economic cycles and is relatively sheltered from inflation and global turmoil. However, we face other challenges in the form of political risks and media exposure, which are fundamental aspects of our industry. Investors in our industry cannot let political populism unsettle them.

According to Bijan Fahimi, there is also a certain degree of assurance for independent schools’ operations in the fact that a growing group of students and guardians are choosing independent schools and that the municipalities are barely able to meet their current obligations.

“We’re looking for investors who recognize the benefits of investing in schools and education but who also have the fortitude to handle political risks and constant scrutiny—investors who don’t see a conflict between the pursuit of profit and social good, but rather view these aspects as complementary to one another,” says Bijan Fahimi.  

Tellusgruppen is a long-term owner of well-managed companies in the education and child care sectors. The Group currently operates 28 preschools and seven elementary schools, and also provides educational services and child care. Tellusgruppen was founded in 2012 as the parent company of Tellusbarn (founded in 2007) and as a platform for future expansion in the education and childcare sectors. Its business model is to establish, operate, and develop profitable and growing subsidiaries in the childcare and education sectors. Tellusgruppen is listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market.