Starting business is a matter of finding the right mountain to capture. Maintaining business is keeping the troops (working team) strong so as to protect the mountain, and expanding business is attacking other mountains (taking market share from competitors).

That's the way to do business according to Frenchman Michel Le Quellec, who runs Efficient English Services, a franchisee of the US-based Wall Street Institute (WSI).

Just four years ago. Le Quellec was head of consumer banking in the Thai market for the Development Bank of Singapore. He had a strong, secure job, but he always dreamed of owning his own business.

Then he had an opportunity to visit Hong Kong and met WSI's franchisee there. He became deeply interested in WSI's teaching methods, because he believed such methods were not yet being employed in Thailand.

Despite the huge number of players already in Thailand's private English-teaching market, the Frenchman had found his mountain, and he knew capturing it was his big opportunity.

He and his partners - Navis Capital and David Padgham - approached the Wall Street Institute in the United States, seeking a licence to use the WSI method in Thailand. It took him four months of presenting business ideas and assessments of market potential in Thailand to capture WSI's attention. His biggest handicap was that he was a non-native English speaker.

Finally he was accepted, and he opened the company's first standard-sized branch on Silom Road in 2002. This was successful, so he expanded to two more branches in the Sukhumvit and Lat Phrao areas. Six mini-sized branches were also established in major companies such as Siam Commercial Bank, KPMG Phoomchai Audit, TOT, the Government Savings Bank and SCG Accounting Services.

Over the past four years, Efficient English Services has provided English language courses to more than 6,000 students. Most of them are people aged 16 and over who want to improve their English skills because they are planning to study abroad, or because they are working people with English-speaking corporate clients.

"Of course, there were many mountains of various sizes to capture, but we chose to capture those that were not too large, to ensure that we could take care of the whole mountain," Le Quellec says.

To keep the mountains firmly held (prevent market share from being stolen) and make them grow strong (make the businesses well known), strong troops (strong working teams) and a clear focus are crucial.

"We must always be strong, to defend our mountains against competitors and, at the same time, to go out to attack their mountains. Also, we need to focus on specific goals, instead of trying to win over everything," Le Quellec says, unveiling his strategy.

He recalls when WSI started from zero in the Thai market. It attracted few employees because people didn't know what the WSI was, and they weren't confident in the institute.

To set up a strong team, all its officers must have educational degrees and pass through a "strength-finder test" to fill jobs that maximise their performance. To contribute to the strong team, all officers are required to participate in the WSI method by helping to formulate teaching plans and reporting class feedback to the WSI with the clear objective of differentiating the institute from other schools and enhancing students' English skills.

Le Quellec says this helps eliminate a negative image created by native English teachers who are not really qualified for their posts. These people are often appointed by other English institutes.

Advertising in crowded public places, particularly through billboards on Skytrain stations that use students in a testimonial role, is Efficient English Services' core marketing strategy.

Today, Le Quellec believes WSI has a strong mountain with strong troops (working team) in the Kingdom. He feels, therefore, that it's time to capture a few mountains in other Asian countries, starting with Indonesia. He spent US$800,000 (Bt27.9 million) there recently to open his first branch.

To him, capturing mountains in new countries is even more challenging than it was Thailand because some of the countries have hundreds of existing mountains, and strongly held markets.

Nevertheless, he's convinced that the market is there as long as WSI's method of teaching isn't already in use. So it's time for Le Quellec and the WSI team to start looking over some mountains, and planning to build up strong troops again.

Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation