Raised in the city of Dubai, Navin Valrani went on to graduate with honours from the Wharton School of Business and then backed it up with a distinction in his MBA at London Business School and a MSc. in Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
Navin today is the CEO of Arcadia Education, the Al Shirawi Group’s foray into K-12 education. He also heads up the group’s engineering services cluster, consisting of 11 companies, 7 Joint Ventures, and over 5000 employees. Navin sits on the board of the group, which also has interests in Printing, Oil and Gas, Logistics, Electronics, Heavy Equipment and Manufacturing Industries.
Navin served as the Chairman of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) Emirates Chapter during the 2014-15 year, having served over five years on the chapter board. In his spare time, he enjoys giving back to his alma maters: presently on the Board of Overseers at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education as well as the Wharton Executive Board for Europe, Middle East and Africa; serving as the Chairperson of the UAE Alumni Interviewing Committee for the University of Pennsylvania for the last 25 years; and a member of the International Alumni Council at London Business School from 2013 through to 2018.
In 2014, Navin furthered his commitment to his alma maters by instituting the Monica and Navin Valrani scholarship fund to support female students to attend both schools. Navin was also an integral part of the Campaign Committee at London Business School to successfully raise over £100 million in the school’s first-ever fund-raising campaign. Navin has been happily married for the last 23 years and has two sons. His wife, Monica, runs the Ladybird chain of nursery schools in Dubai and has a passion for early years education. Navin also teaches the renowned Junior MBA programme at The Arcadia School, a primary school business program that he founded and is extremely passionate about.
