Does it matter? If I know the kids in my area are getting a shitty ass education, and I'm moneyed up and feel like taking it up myself, I will do just that and I would hire people with the proper credentials to run it. My personal credentials mean nothing, I'm just the person with the vision, but the people that I put in place to actually run the school? Their credentials will be up to snuff. I'm just the name behind it.
Did you really just ask if it matters if someone who wants to start a school and brands themselves as an educator has the credentials in education to do so? He wasn't just trying to be the name behind the school. He was going to be actively involved in how it was ran, it's curriculum etc. He wasn't just going to be the money behind it because he didn't have the money to begin with. That was his whole point of trying to get others to donate.