RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Misk Schools will start its next academic year at its new campus in the Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Nonprofit City, confirmed the CEO of the Misk Foundation Badr Al Badr.
Speaking to Arab News on the sidelines of the 6th edition of the Future Investment Initiative Forum in Riyadh on Oct. 25, Al Badr said, "Very soon, we will be moving into the Misk Schools within the Mohammed Salman City campus. We plan to start the next school year on premises at Misk City."
The 21-hectare campus with 110,000 sq. m of eco-friendly and highly digitally connected nine school buildings is set to welcome over 1,000 male and female students aged three to 18 years.
The campus is the first project to be implemented in Misk City, setting a new standard for non-profit private education in the Kingdom.
Kindergarten — incorporating pre-Kindergarten — is followed by Lower Primary, Upper Primary, Middle and Senior Schools which are segregated, with mirrored facilities for boys and girls.
Each school features academic classrooms, a library, art and design studios, science and food technology labs, Arabic culture hubs, an information technology suite, and music rooms. Each also has a kitchen in support of the school’s “farm-to-table” initiative.
Speaking about the foundation's future endeavors, Al Badr said, "The Misk Schools project is the most advanced in terms of construction, but we have many others that are well on their way. We expect to see many of the new facilities spring up over the next year and a half, two years.”
He said Misk City not only will house their different activities and subsidiaries' headquarters but will be a “headquarters for ambitious Saudi youth,” adding: “Whether they want to start their startup, to learn a new skill, or they want to practice their talents, we will have that available.”
Al Badr told Arab News that Misk is developing a new strategy that zeroes in on one of their main pillars, youth talent, but will focus specifically on addressing the sector's needs in four skill development areas: nonprofit organizations, entrepreneurship and startup, and leadership space.
“We have set very ambitious targets for ourselves to achieve in those four different fields,” he said.
The Misk Foundation was founded in 2011 by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to develop youths’ leadership skills, and to focus on education, technology, media and culture to empower society through knowledge according to the best international standards.
“I am very blessed to be part of the Misk Foundation because I get to work on a personal passion of mine. I have this passion for developing leaders and working with young talented people that I have harbored for many years,” the CEO added.
Al Badr, who was appointed CEO of the Misk Foundation in July 2019, has founded several companies and was CEO of Dur Hospitality Co., where he led its transformation and launched its expansion strategy.
He was also managing director of CISCO Systems in Saudi Arabia for two years, before occupying the same role for Asia and Africa.
