Seeking investor and business partner for ELT venture

[wpearson]

I am an English teacher/entrepreneur seeking a business partner willing to join me in investing in and running a start-up English language training school in Georgia (Sakartvelo not GA!!) If you're tired of working for dodgy ELT outfits, through with management that is just out to pilfer the pockets of students, and want to shape your own direction in the ELT profession then please read on.

Why Georgia?
Georgia is a Western-leaning, business-friendly country offering a relatively unsaturated market for organised English tuition. Yes I know there was a war there recently, but comparatively Georgia offers the most open and un-complex business registration system in the former CIS. Georgia seeks acceptance in the Western club of nations which provides a huge impetus for the business and student community to learn English.

Who are you?
I am seeking to find a business partner who is willing to accept half the risk for half the stake in a prospective language school in Tbilisi, Georgia. I need a partner who is working, or has worked in the ELT industry, especially a teacher (we know best!) This someone needs to have the time, energy and money (negotiable) to put into a new language school (don't be put off - we can discuss the details later) in the latter half of this year.

Who am I?
Having been teacher of English for several years, I want to take control of my career and put into practice a language school that reflects my and my future business partner's ideals; academic excellence, administrative flexibility and competence, and value for money for customers.

So don't hang around working for a bad company, get in touch and we can make something fantastic happen.

[Peter Easton]

Isn't Georgia on the brink of another coup d'etat?

Not a very safe place to risk your capital right now, if you ask me....

[Peter Easton]

How much are you talking, roughly?

[wpearson]

Please direct all serious responses through my personal messaging service (where we can talk shop and discuss the details). If you're concerned about the security situation in Georgia, I would advise getting up to speed by reading some news articles on:

http://www.civil.ge/eng/

[Peter Easton]

I can read the news all right. The country is paralysed and on the brink of revolution. Your link doesn't prove otherwise.

[systematic]

There are several members of this board who own, or have owned language schools and/or TEFL training schools. Start up costs are minimal.

On the other hand, joining a franchise is usually extremely expensive, and the independent branches are left to struggle in the market along with their competition. Because of the heavy investment involved, which in some cases is little more than purchasing a logo or a template website; it is especially these branches that often fall guilty of underhand business methods and unfair treatment of their employees. Any ROI is a pipedream.

[Peter Easton]

Any ROI is a pipedream.

That's not really true. The whole point of franchises is that it takes extremely bad management to screw one up. That's why they are so expensive - they are a license to print money.

[systematic]

The whole point of franchises is that it takes extremely bad management to screw one up. That's why they are so expensive - they are a license to print money.

I couldn't agree more, Peter.
The franchisors are only interested in selling the franchise, and are little interested in whether a local market exists. Their salesmen - and I have met some of them - are sometimes little more than carpetbaggers who rely on the naïvety of targets who have little or no knowledge of either management or EFL.
I could cite two classic examples, but that's not for here.
My own stand-alone school in France was started on a shoestring and was roaring success.

[Peter Easton]

I do agree that franchises are a bad way to go - simply because they are so common. Some sort of equity partnership would be a much better business model.

[orangutan]

I can read the news all right. The country is paralysed and on the brink of revolution. Your link doesn't prove otherwise.

Does anybody know of any good on-line articles on the political and economic prospects in Georgia at the moment?

[Peter Easton]

Search http://www.ft.com/ and http://www.janes.com/

Plenty of stuff there.

[orangutan]

Thanks, that is useful.

[ashishmazmudar]

Yes, a franchise operation might not be the answer to many people's problem of a start-up. But then you might be referring to fly by night operators who simply copy paste text books and are not educationists at heart.

I am running a pretty special TESOL academy in India. We are the only ones that are articulated to a world renowned university in Australia. Students from the world over are taking the advantage of our TESOL programs to gain a advance standing credit transfer into this university to pursue their Master's program.

Let me ask everybody on this thread a question.
Why would a university articulate our course if it does not fall within the framework of their a quality education system? Courses or course materials cannot be made overnight. Atleast not by those who do not want to initiate plagiarism.

The problem out here is that TESOL / ESL / ESOL is not just something that you can sell & forget about it. Yes there are a few bad eggs out there in the market. But then which market does not have its own share of bad eggs.

Believe me, there are a few educational institutions like mine who stand by a commitment to create the best of TESOL certified trainers. Yes I do earn money from this business. I am not God, neither do I want to be one.

A franchise from a good institution gives you the freedom of concentrating on teaching & using your business skills in expansion. If at all you do take a franchise then I would suggest that you partner with a company who is more of an academician rather than a fly by night operator.