Phinma unit maps expansion  

PHINMA Education Holdings, Inc. is planning to further expand its presence as it targets neighboring Southeast Asian countries within the next two years.

Chito B. Salazar, Phinma Education president and chief executive officer, told reporters on Monday that the company is focused on expanding to Cambodia and Laos in the next two years.

“We really love Myanmar. But our focus within the next two years is Cambodia and Laos,” Mr. Salazar said.

“There are many other groups we can help. It is not driven by the goal to be global. What drives us is really the need,” he added.

Mr. Salazar said Phinma Education had also been asked to consider India and African countries such as Zambia and Rwanda, but said the company is not “thinking about it yet.”

“There’s always enough people to serve in the Philippines. But there are also others that we can help. We’re still getting our feet wet internationally,” he said.  

Mr. Salazar said Phinma Education’s presence in Indonesia will also be bolstered with a new building as well as the acquisition of a new school. Currently, the company is managing Horizon Karawang in West Java.

“Our board already approved further investments in Indonesia, both in terms of a facility and a new school. The optimism is there already. The board approved two things, the acquisition in Jakarta and we’re going to be expanding the existing school with a new building because it needs more people and more facilities,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Salazar said Phinma Education is eyeing 160,000 enrollees for school year 2023-2024, higher than the 124,501 enrollees in school year 2022-2023.

For school year 2022-2023, Phinma Education logged a 10% increase in net income to P1.09 billion, while its total revenues also rose 19% to P4.5 billion.

“This year is a convergence of our model continuing to show promise, the growing need for the services we provide, and our business doing well in all aspects. We hope to be able to reach more and more underserved students who need quality education the most, so that they can uplift themselves, their families, and communities,” Mr. Salazar said.

Phinma Education is a subsidiary of listed holding firm Phinma Corp., which saw its shares fall 10 cents or 0.49% to P20.30 each on Monday. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave