The promoter is the Al-Mawarid Company for Educational and Health Services, whose goals are to provide practical and quality higher education and medical services to people in Yemen and its neighboring countries. It started its operations in Sana’a, Yemen in 1992, with the establishment of a community college which was expanded to a private university in 1994 and subsequently added five branches across Yemen. In 2005, the management of UST added a teaching hospital to its operations - University of Science and Technology Hospital.

The major shareholders are:

- Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW) 16.4%
- the Senan Aboulohom Endowment Fund 14.3%
- Wakf 1 supervised by Dr. Hameed Ziyad 7.7%
- Thabet Company for Investment 7.0%
- Wakf 2 supervised by Dr. Tarik Senan (Chairman of the company) 6.9%
- Wakf 3 supervised by Dr. Dawood Alhudabi (UST’s President) 5.7%

The total project cost is estimated at $38.9million. The proposed IFC financing is for up to $17.0 million Islamic Finance facility (A Loan).

10.0 million (USD)

Product Line	IFC Investment (million USD)
Risk Management
Guarantee
Loan	10.0
Equity

* These investment figures are indicative

USTH is located in Sana’a, Yemen and expansion will take place as additions to the existing building. UST has campuses in Sana’a, Taiz, Aden, Hadromout, Hodeidah and Ibb. UST’s expansion in Sana’a will also take place as additions to existing buildings. In Taiz, a new building will be completed (construction has already commenced) on an empty plot of land that is part of a new development in the city.

The proposed expansion program has the potential for significant development impact through:

- Expansion of delivery of high quality education and healthcare services in Yemen.
- Strong demonstration effect on the private tertiary education and healthcare sectors. The sponsor’s focus on quality in both service provision and management will make it a leader and thus a point of reference in Yemen. If successful, this investment will encourage other private sector companies to invest in quality education and health facilities in the country. Having a strong brand name, solid capital base, knowledge of and commitment to the local markets, the sponsor has greater likelihood of success than many other potential entrants.
- Expansion of access to much needed good quality tertiary education in Sana’a and beyond Sana’a. Yemen currently produces approximately 190,000 high school graduates and the country’s total tertiary education capacity (public and private) can accommodate approximately 40,000 students.
- Development of human capacity in Yemen - upgrading of skills levels in the economy. There is a shortage of skilled labor in Yemen. This project builds capacity for in-country training and education thereby increasing access to higher education and potentially increasing the pool of available skilled local labor.
- Increase number of quality trained local doctors in Yemen USTH was established initially to provide a teaching hospital environment for UST medical school students. The expansion of the hospital will enable UST to offer more programs in its medical school and increase the number of its intake.
- Expansion of quality healthcare to lower-income population. USTH’s facilities are low-cost hospitals and are designed to serve lower-income patients who would otherwise have limited options for care.
- Provision of free/discounted treatments to low income patients.
- Targeting and increasing education of females in Yemen.

IFC will play a critical role in this transaction by providing long-term flexible financing to fund healthcare and education operations in Yemen, sharing global sector knowledge including best management and operational practices, contributing to improving financial discipline through its financial covenants and monitoring. IFC also expects to share its project implementation experience and know-how from its work in the region and globally as well as expertise in university and hospital projects from all over the developing world.

UST is a category B project according to IFC''s environmental and social review procedure. A summary of IFC’s environmental and social review findings for the project including the rationale for the B categorization will shortly be publicly available in the Environmental and Social Review Summary (ESRS. The Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP), which is attached to the ESRS, contains specific tasks that the client will undertake to mitigate perceived risks and impacts from the project, and to ensure compliance with IFC’s Performance Standards.

The main EHS aspects of the proposed projects are:

- site acquisition and characteristics;
- environmental engineering and safety engineering principles during the sitting and construction phase, air emissions and their treatment;
- potable water supply and treatment;
- liquid effluent treatment and disposal;
- waste management including hazardous healthcare waste;
- worker health and safety including training and housekeeping;
- disinfection, sterilization, hygiene and implementation of good hospital management practices required to prevent infections among patients and employees;
- opportunities for energy conservation and efficiency as well as waste minimization; and
- fire and life safety including emergency response for both UST and USTH.