Tabby has partnered with Zenda to offer UAE parents instalment plans for school-related costs of up to 12 months.
The BNPL provider, headquartered in Saudi Arabia, said the service covers tuition fees, transport, extracurricular activities, and uniforms. Schools using Zenda's existing platform will be able to offer Tabby payment plans directly through their current systems, without requiring separate integration.
Tabby said it is already live with more than 100 institutions across the UAE, including Amity School Dubai and Sharjah University, spanning secondary schools, universities, nurseries, and professional courses. Demand is expected to be concentrated initially in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, followed by Sharjah and Ajman.
Addressing a gap in household payment access
A Tabby survey of 2.814 parents found that 88% report financial strain when school fees fall due, and half struggle to pay the full amount upfront. Some 97% of respondents said they would be likely to use a product such as Tabby if their school offered it, while nine in ten said spreading payments would allow their children to participate in activities they currently cannot afford.
Zarik Nabi, Chief Commercial Officer at Tabby, told Arabian Business that the service is aimed particularly at families who lack access to affordable credit card instalment plans, noting that debit card holders are typically excluded from bank-issued instalment products. Tabby's offering is underwritten at a transaction level and structured around a single, disclosed fee rather than revolving interest.
The company said it is initially focusing on nurseries, kindergartens, and mid-market schools, where fee levels are more likely to fall within its lending limits. Term fees in the range of USD 2.180 to USD 4.085 (AED 8.000 to AED 15.000 ) are said to cover around 90% of UAE schools.
Regulatory change opens higher-value categories
Tabby's entry into education payments reflects a broader strategic shift from retail and ecommerce, where the company built its initial user base, into larger-ticket household spending categories.
The expansion has been enabled in part by regulatory developments in the UAE. The Central Bank of the UAE introduced a dedicated BNPL licensing framework approximately 18 months prior to this announcement, requiring providers to report to and receive data from credit bureaus. The company said this has strengthened its ability to underwrite higher-value transactions with greater confidence.
In addition, the education sector has presented specific structural challenges, owing to its fragmented payment infrastructure. Schools commonly rely on separate providers for fees, transport, activities, and uniforms, complicating integration and reconciliation. With this in mind, Tabby said it is working with schools and school-related partners to address this across all associated cost categories.
For institutions, the partnership is positioned as a means of modernising fee collection, reducing payment delays, and improving cash-flow predictability. For families, it replaces single large payments with structured monthly amounts.
