‘My day is always intense’

Education consultant and father-of-four Mark Ryder quit the corporate world last year to set up on his own and also runs a healthy juice business on the side.

Mark Ryder, 46, cycles up to 100 kilometres at Dubai’s Al Qudra circuit on weekends. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National

Mark Ryder is a director of Daymer Consultancy, which specialises in helping investors, land owners and operators in the education market. The Briton is also an owner of Bensons International, a UK juice business that supplies drinks to outlets such as the Atlantis The Palm and Vox Cinemas as well as making juice for celebrity chef Gary Rhodes. Mr Ryder, 46, has lived in Dubai since 2011 and was previously group director of real estate and development for Gems Education, where his role was to source and negotiate school real estate opportunities.

6am

I make a proper coffee and grab a banana at our Victory Heights villa overlooking the eighth hole of The Els Club, in Sports City. I live here with my four children – three sons, aged 15, 11 and nine and a seven-year-old daughter – and my wife, Nettie.

6.50am

I take my eldest sons to school at Jumeirah College. My youngest son and daughter attend Gems World Academy, Al Barsha South, and Nettie takes them around 8.15am.

7.30am

I go to FitRepublik, in Sports City, until 9.30am every day to join various fitness classes. It really is a wonderful place to exercise and extremely innovative. I think it is critical to be healthy so you can work and play harder. I also think it is important to be fit to maximise life and the family. At weekends I cycle up to 100km on the Al Qudra circuit.

10am

I am a former lawyer and property developer. For six years I was chief executive of a real estate investment and development fund. I now have various business interests as my entrepreneurial instincts encouraged me to move away from corporate life last year as an employee to take more direct control of my destiny. These include importing juice drinks from the UK, but my main focus and passion is education.

11.15am

I work on a presentation that I am giving at an education conference being held in Dubai at the end of the month. I decided early on in my career that making a difference was more important than chasing cash. I therefore try to promote best practice.

1pm

I don’t eat a big lunch and when I can I enjoy it at The Cycle Hub bistro, Motor City; a brilliant cycle shop as well as a first-class healthy bistro. I love their sweet potato fries. My day is always intense as I am absolutely focused in helping Dubai’s education market mature to continue on a path of excellence. The Dubai school landscape is the most competitive that it has ever been, which means that parents have choice. I attend meetings around Dubai working with school operators, landowners and investors. The KHDA have worked hard to create the competitive landscape and I always enjoy a visit to their inspirational offices in Academic City. As the market matures, KHDA are working on raising the quality of education and creating community schools – absolutely essential to managing the increasingly congested road network.

2.10pm

I am on the phone trying to finalise a school land deal. It’s like an enormous jigsaw puzzle trying to fit the right land with the appropriate school and on commercial terms that means they can invest where it really matters (rather than in rent): teachers and reinvesting in the school. It is so important that Dubai attracts and keeps the best teachers – we are fortunate to be blessed with ample land and so schools shouldn’t overpay for it.

3.30pm

If I can, I like to collect my two youngest children from school and then spend time with them before dinner. My wife and I are often on the roads again after school delivering the children to various activities from performing arts to football. Life is never dull.

5pm

I catch up on the juice business towards the end of the day. We work with the distributor 4Corners. We identified a gap in the market for low-sugar drinks and ice lollies based on a very successful business run by friends of mine for the last 15 years in the UK. We set up Bensons International and are steadily growing where people can buy the drinks. This includes most Gems schools as well as other schools and popular venues.

7.30pm

We are very fortunate to have many good friends in Dubai and from all parts of the world. We often catch up with them over dinner. Nettie is an excellent cook, and as a mother of four she has to constantly be innovative to keep meals healthy and interesting.

9pm

In the evening I often work to prepare for the next day.

10 to 11pm

I enjoy watching history and wildlife documentaries, but bed is before 11pm.