Juan Figar De Lacalle
Managing Partner
For the past 5 years, Juan has been the CEO of Spanish World Group (SW), Spanish Language Education company, servicing over 2,000 students weekly across three campuses (Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur) in SEA. He has driven revenue growth by over 400% through a combination of organic and M&A driven strategies, making SW the market leader in the region. During his tenure, Spanish World developed its own in - house blended learning method, unique in its field. Juan remains as a Shareholder and Corporate Board Member of Spanish World.
Together with his siblings, Juan launched FILAC, a c. US$20m AUM family investment office, in 2012. FILAC invests in socially conscious businesses in the real estate, finance, renewable energy, education, and healthcare sectors in Spain, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Brazil and Paraguay.
Prior to SW, Juan worked as the COO of Knowledge Platform (KP), a SEA Ed-Tech company focused on enhancing primary and secondary school curriculums through technology. He successfully led the raise of US$3m from a VC, and the expansion efforts of KPs services into China, Indonesia and Philippines through organic market entry and JV partnerships.
Before arriving in Singapore, Juan was an Account Manager for Schroders Asset Management. At Schroders, he ran a portfolio of over 50 intermediary/institutional clients in Spain and Portugal. He delivered sales over US$250m in 3 years, which earned him a promotion to Account Manager (one of the youngest in Schroders) and be included in the global Sales Related Pay of the company.
He started his career as an Analyst in the Spanish Private Equity firm Ibersuizas (today Portobello), where he provided support to Investments Director in analysis and valuation of companies in leisure, consumer goods, education, telco industries. He participated in two acquisitions.
Juan has devoted significant time in his life to make a social impact. He left Spain and finance for 2 years (2008 to 2010) to Cambodia to lead initiatives focused in the empowerment of landmine victims and the improvement of the educational system in isolated areas. He also served as a Board Member of SAUCE ONG, dedicated to the support of the population in rural Cambodia, from 2007 until 2016. He created, and runs, the NGO Battampore, in Singapore, to bring education to remote villages in northwest Cambodia.
Juan holds an MBA from INSEAD, BA in Law and BA Business Administration from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, complemented with a Master in Leadership and Human Resources from Universidad Francisco de Vitoria.
Email - juan.figar@asayagroup.com