Efficient English looking overseas
Efficient English Services, a franchisee of Wall Street Institute (WSI) school of English in Thailand, expects to spread its wings into five countries in Asia within three years, starting with Indonesia in the next two weeks.
Malaysia, Hong Kong, Vietnam and Japan are in its plans after that, according to director Michel Le Quellec. The company bought the WSI master franchise from its United States headquarters to launch its Indonesia branch with a US$800,000 (Bt28.6 million) investment. Le Quellec said the company would enter Malaysia after its business in Indonesia was established, which was expected to take three months. It is also negotiating with a master franchisee in Hong Kong to let the company operate there, which would automatically allow it to do business in Japan because the Hong Kong operator also has an operation there. Le Quellec said the demand from Asian people to study English was very high, even in Japan, because of globalisation and the growth of the Internet. He said those countries already had many private English institutes and the market seemed to be tougher than in Thailand, though the higher demand for studying English and big populations provided the company with an opening. Above all, none of the institutes teach English in the same way as WSI, he added. In terms of its business plan for Thailand, Le Quellec said the company planned to open new branches at Siam Centre and in Pinklao. Le Quellec said the Siam Square area was a big potential market because of its popularity with teenagers and Pinklao could become a significant market because there were not many private English institutes on the outskirts of Bangkok. Efficient English Services has been in Thailand since 2002 and has six mini-branches in major companies and three full-sized branches in Bangkok. Le Quellec said the company would like to open branches in major provinces nationwide in the long term.
Nitida Asawanipont The Nation
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