Teaching English to MNC Workforces: GlobalEnglish CEO Deepak Desai (Part 7)

SM: I find it interesting that your market is not a cutthroat environment. The European companies are focused on Europe.

DD: They do compete with us in some parts in Asia, Brazil, and Mexico. They are truly global. Yes, the competition is there, but the challenge for us is not from online competitors. The competition is from the classroom. From a positioning point of view, because we are focused on the global scale we sometimes ignore local, smaller, deals.

I tell our team that we have to change the rules of the game, and tomorrow we have to change to stay ahead of the game. There will be other competitors. Rosetta Stone is not there yet but they have the capability.

SM: They could also be an acquirer. Do you get feelers for acquisition yet?

DD: All the time. Our goal is to figure out what the right time for that is. We have created something unique in a particular segment of the market. When the time is right we can go down that path.

SM: Mayfield must be getting itchy. They have been in this deal for a while.

DD: Yeah, but we have other investors also. Mayfield is not the most significant investor. Investment Group of Santa Barbara is the main investor now.

SM: Is that an angel group?

DD: They use their own money. The goal for them is much more of a long-term commitment. Reece Duca is the chairman and leads that group. He has been an investor all his life and focuses on education technology. He was the founder of The Learning Company.

SM: So you are not at the beck and call of the VCs?

DD: No. We have that luxury.

SM: You are placed well. English is the language of the business world. That is the reality, like it or not.

DD: I am blessed with the opportunity. It is an amazing opportunity. The world is going to change and we get to be a key part of that. English will connect people like never before. If we can help connect people, that is an amazing opportunity. We have hired great people in the past year, and people are just understanding what online learning is going to do. The second largest industry after health care is education.

I have a son who is a high school senior. I see how he gets frustrated because teachers are teaching to others in the class. To see what technology can do to customize the experience and make it right for you is incredible.

SM: There are some roadblocks. Teachers’ unions do not like online education. There is the fear of teachers being replaced, and teachers feel threatened if their role appears to be decentralized.

DD: In India, we found that with all the hiring in the IT services and call centers, teachers had to do cultural and language training. It was getting too difficult for them. We met with the teachers and explained that we made their lives easier. It becomes a partnership. The drudgery can be done online.

SM: One good thing about your business model is that you focus on corporations. It is much easier to get a corporation to adopt and online learning module because they already do online training. Schools put up a much more challenging fight. Companies in that market have to find niches such as Advanced Placement students or disadvantaged students. Nobody in that market has hit the central jackpot.

DD: Universities are the same way. It is much easier on our side.

SM: Very good. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 7 in the series : Teaching English to MNC Workforces: GlobalEnglish CEO Deepak Desai
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