An Apax Leaders center in District 5 of 'Shark' Thuy must close - Photo: Trong Nhan
On March 26, the police investigation agency prosecuted the case, prosecuting defendant Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy (also known as "Shark" Thuy). Before being arrested, how was 'Shark' Thuy doing business?
“Shark” Thuy – Originated from education
Mr. Thuy was born in 1982 in Hanoi. In 2008, he founded Egame, the predecessor of Egroup Group, and began developing products that apply technology in education.
In 2009, Egroup released the game Conquer martial arts, a game combined with answering general knowledge questions and college exam preparation.
From 2014 – 2017, Conquer martial arts organized by Egroup in coordination with the Ministry of Education and Training for students nationwide, but then had to stop because of mixed opinions.
During the period 2017 - 2020, Egroup accelerated educational business products. The most prominent is the Apax Leaders chain of English centers.
During its "golden age", this model had more than 200 establishments across the country. Some other English education models of Egroup that flourished during this time were Englishnow, eKidEnglish...
In 2018, Egroup continued with Korean partners to bring the Korean CMS Edu thinking capacity training model to Vietnam. In addition, Mr. Thuy also invested and developed STEAMe GARTEN bilingual preschool and cooperated with Firbank Grammar School (Australia) to build a multi-level school model.
During this period, he was an investor participating in the reality TV show "Shark Tank" in the 2 and 2018 seasons.
Thuy's nickname "Shark" also started from there. However, his investment deals were not successful.
Tuition debt scandal
Entering the 2020s, 'Shark' Thuy began expanding her business model into real estate. Egroup calls this an investment model in "educational real estate" and considers it "a new direction but also an inevitable trend to ensure the sustainability of educational investment activities".
Egroup's Apax Holdings investment fund began combining with real estate partners to "optimize and increase the asset value of educational real estate in projects".
At the 2022 annual shareholders' meeting, Apax Holdings representatives affirmed their determination to ensure the sustainability of Apax Holdings by moving towards owning educational facilities after building a relatively good system. widespread in many provinces and cities.
The slogan "McDonald's doesn't just sell hamburgers and 'Shark' Thuy doesn't just have educational products" was also widely communicated on Egroup's platforms during that period, compared to a similar real estate business model. like McDonald's owner Ray Kroc in the 1950s.
In addition, according to Egroup, Apax Holdings has proactively invested more than 7.000m2 land in Vinh Tuy ward, Hai Ba Trung district (Hanoi) to build Firbank Australia International School.
Apax Holdings also plans to pour money into the Hong Quang Long Hai tourist area project (Ba Ria - Vung Tau) to pilot the implementation of high-quality educational experience services.
Parents come to demand tuition fees at Apax Leaders Binh Thanh campus (HCMC) at the end of 2023 – Photo: Trong Nhan
The time after the COVID-19 epidemic was also the time when Apax Leaders began to face financial challenges of "missing" tuition revenue during the epidemic break, paying teachers' salaries, and maintaining the quantity space system." terrible" nationwide.
The fact that too many parents want to withdraw tuition fees paid many years in advance (usually 1-3 years), sometimes up to hundreds of million dong per student, due to Apax's failure to maintain its teaching commitment, also contributes to the decline. financial imbalance of this company.
On March 12, in a written report to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City on the situation of Apax Leaders English centers in the area, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City said that according to Apax, the tuition amount for this unit must be Refund to parents about 3 billion VND in debt in Ho Chi Minh City.
Teacher and staff salary debt by February 2 is 2023 billion VND, premises rent debt is 11,5 billion VND, social insurance debt is 9 billion VND for Vietnamese workers and 31 billion VND with foreigners.
Prosecuted
On March 26, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Security said that Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy (“Shark” Thuy) had been prosecuted and temporarily detained for investigation of property fraud. In addition to Mr. Thuy, the investigation agency of the Ministry of Public Security also prosecuted Mr. Dang Van Hien, head of the shareholder relations department of Egame Investment and Distribution Joint Stock Company, with the same crime.
