Thuso

Company Profile

Thuso is a leading international strategic consultancy focused on education and philanthropy, and investment in these sectors, and in emerging markets, with offices located in London, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as a newly opened Partner Office in Kuala Lumpur, with a particular focus on the Security Sector.

Thuso’s highly international team is drawn from a range of family office services, management consultancy, military, and academic backgrounds, with experience of working in more than 40 countries. The team speaks over 15 languages. All of Thuso’s consultants are graduates of the world’s leading universities, primarily recruited from Oxford, Cambridge, and Ivy League institutions, as well as leading Business Schools internationally.

Thuso’s work has garnered significant attention, and Thuso was selected as a Finalist in the 2023 Global Educational Supplies & Solutions Awards in the ‘Best Digital Educational Resource/Product’ category, in 2022 in the ‘Innovation Product Awards – Digital/Coding/Software’ category, and in 2021 in the ‘Start Up Company of the Year’ category. Additionally, Thuso was a Finalist in the Bett Awards 2022 ‘Innovator of the Year’ category, as well as in the Education Resources Awards 2021, for ‘Outstanding Achievement During COVID-19’. Thuso has also been shortlisted for several EducationInvestor Awards in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024, including ‘Consultant of the Year – Strategy’; ‘School Management Information System (MIS) Provider’; ‘School-Improvement Provider’, which it won in 2023 and 2022; and the Grand Prix Category ‘Exporting Excellence’ Award, which it won in 2020.

Thuso provides end-to-end support for private clients and family offices seeking to establish new educational institutions, ranging from schools and nurseries to universities and specialist training colleges; supports private clients seeking to acquire assets in these sectors; and advises those wishing to exit from, or consolidate, such holdings. Support includes, but is not limited to, concept design, market research, feasibility studies, business plan development, site search, brokering, compliance, and operations. Thuso can also support families in strengthening the academic and commercial performance of existing holdings in the education sector.

In addition, Thuso provides in-depth guidance and support to individuals and families seeking to fund philanthropic ventures, as well as those pursuing impact investments in developing and emerging economies.

For family-owned educational businesses, Thuso also supports next generation/succession planning, as well as providing full operational support for families wishing to ‘step back’ from day-to-day management.

With extensive experience working with trusts, foundations, non-governmental organisations, national governments, and civil society organisations in some of the world’s most challenging contexts, including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Sierra Leone, North-East Nigeria, Yemen, South Sudan, Papua New Guinea, and Pakistan, Thuso is ideally placed to support those seeking to facilitate humanitarian, development, or commercial endeavours in challenging and sensitive markets. Thuso is increasingly undertaking advisory work in mainland Europe also, particularly in the Balkans, the Baltic states, and Eastern and Central Europe.

This support includes Third Party Monitoring to ensure that funds are reaching intended beneficiaries, strategic guidance on programming, support with compliance (particularly with regard to anti-corruption practices), and brokering with major stakeholders. Thuso has a strong working relationship with myriad international donors, private foundations, national governments, and leading charitable bodies, and is therefore uniquely well placed to support those seeking to maximise impact in these areas.

Support caters to those operating in: Education; Child Protection; Health, Nutrition, and Food Security; Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene; Security and Peace-building; Livelihoods; Anti-Trafficking; Energy and Renewables; and Conservation and Environment.

Thuso also has a rapidly expanding rule of law practice, advising a wide range of clients on legal matters in the markets in which it operates.

Thuso is an evidence-led advisory, with rich in-country knowledge of on-the-ground contexts internationally. With a firm emphasis on ‘Do No Harm’ principles, it is ideally placed to provide candid guidance on philanthropic activities, particularly where these are not having their intended impact, where they have been undermined by mismanagement, fraud, or corruption, or where unintended, negative consequences have arisen from programming. This allows those supporting philanthropic ventures to be confident that ventures are sustainable, impactful, and efficient.

Impact investment in emerging markets, particularly those in Central and Eastern Europe, the MENA Region, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific Islands can also be provided with end-to-end support.

With a strong track record in, and rich knowledge of, the education sector, Thuso is also uniquely well placed to provide tailored guidance to family offices and UHNWIs on their families’ education, as well as their own academic goals and professional development. Such support can include end-to-end guidance on school selection, university applications, and alternate learning approaches, with a focus on world-leading institutions internationally, as well as mentoring, training, and executive education for the next generation of leaders within family-owned businesses.