World Cup English

by Douglas CretsJuly 27, 2010

Ana Gabriela Pessoa, CEO and Founder of EZLearn in Brazil, says her company is going to help prepare the country for the World Cup and the Olympics in 2016

ezLearn wants to prepare Brasilians for the Olympics

ed: What is the product and what does it do?

ezLearn’s first product is an ESL site called meuInglês. We are developing an adaptive learning platform that creates a personalized learning experience for students focused on their objectives, and we are focused on doing this in a fun and creative way. Our mission is to democratize access to high quality educational content in Brazil.

ed: At what stage are you in building this company to scale? What are the next steps in your mission to grow this company?

The site went live in beta version in February 2009, so a little over one year ago. We are focused on product development right now.   We are still scaling product and the next step in growing the company is reaching companies that are interested in training their staff in English, and government projects aimed at taking an accessible way to learn English to a large chunk of the population.

ed: What inspired you to create your company? Who is helping you to do it?

While I was doing my masters in Education Policy at Harvard I looked at a few startups that were starting to do really innovative things in learning, especially regarding building adaptive learning platforms.  When I came back to Brazil, I saw very little innovation happening in education here, yet a desperate need to improve the quality of education being provided.  So to me working with technology made a lot of sense, because it is the only way to take high quality content and skill based learning to a very large population, at scale and for affordable prices. We have a fantastic team of engineers and the best English teachers who are helping me do it.  We also have visionary investors who understand our mission and back us up.

ed: Explain the methodology behind mixing advertising, a freemium model, and subscription services, and the push to enter the corporate training silo, if I understand the current setup for the company.

We currently have a B2C and B2B strategy. For the end consumer we offer a subscription based service and a 7-day free trial to experiment and see what we are all about. For companies, under the B2B model, we offer a very scalable and affordable solution for companies to help their employees learn English. Especially with the World Cup and Olympics coming to Brazil

With the World Cup coming to Brazil, it's time to learn English, says Pessoa

in the next six years, there is a huge demand for learning English. We also offer our product to schools and universities, as a hybrid model. We train the teachers in how to use the platform as a supplement for their courses and slowly introduce technology as an aid and support for teaching and learning, without imposing it.

ed: You’ve received an American business education and you’ve undergone some venture capital experience in Brazil. Can you compare the ways the two countries look at VC investments in education startups?

Unfortunately very little is done in VC investments in education in Brazil. The VC industry in general is not very well developed here.  There are plenty of angel investors and private equity funds, but not so many VCs that understand about technology the way the industry is developed in the US.

One reason might be that the universities are not encouraging students to go out there and start companies, so entrepreneurship is still far from being the number one alternative for recent graduates.

What advice do you have to give investors who may be seeking education investment opportunities in Brazil? Pitfalls, dangers? Opportunities?

There is a lot of opportunity for online and hybrid learning since the market is just starting. I believe there is much we can learn from the successful experiences in the US and therefore transfer of knowledge to Brazil.

Can you explain whether or not you see any benefit to social networks and social media in the launching of a company? How have you leveraged this in your company?

I believe 100% in using social media tools to enhance learning.  ezLearn is based on this principle.  It’s the best way to encourage student motivation and participation, engagement with the content they are learning.

Tags: Ana Gabriela Pessoa, Blended Learning, Brazil, EdTech, Entrepreneurs, EZ Learn, language learning, Online Learning