What's the potential of ESL businesses in Cambodia?
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What's the potential of ESL businesses in Cambodia?
When it comes to quixotic dreams of starting a business in Cambodia, wouldn't an ESL cram school be the best business to open? It seems to me the combination of a very young population and a lot of filthy stinking rich parents makes this model a no-brainer.
Working throughout Asia, it's always been easy for me to pick up clients on the side to tutor privately, in fact they regularly come up to me on the street. I have to admit, the prospect of simply renting out a shop and redirecting these clients to my own school seems quite alluring. The start-up costs for a cram school are very low, the market is enormous, the job is... well, kinda easy if you've done it as much as I have...
So why hasn't anyone done this yet?
Working throughout Asia, it's always been easy for me to pick up clients on the side to tutor privately, in fact they regularly come up to me on the street. I have to admit, the prospect of simply renting out a shop and redirecting these clients to my own school seems quite alluring. The start-up costs for a cram school are very low, the market is enormous, the job is... well, kinda easy if you've done it as much as I have...
So why hasn't anyone done this yet?
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That’s a wonderful idea. I don’t know why there are no language schools here - it’s surely a goldmine.
Best to get in quick before someone else jumps on this idea.
Best to get in quick before someone else jumps on this idea.
Wow. Have you even been to SE Asia!?
pew, pew, pew, pew!
- Lucky Lucan
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There are plenty of places doing this, for example Chey Thavy School. Thousands of students cram there before exams.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
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I don't see any schools that appear to be true ESL cram schools, like what you would find in Vietnam, S Korea, or Taiwan (outfits like Shane English School, Wall Street English) with evening and weekend classes taught by a native speaker. I'm sure there must be a few in Phnom P, but the market seems woefully under served beyond that. Perhaps the ESL cram school model is still seen as too casual for wealthy Cambodians?Lucky Lucan wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 1:37 pmThere are plenty of places doing this, for example Chey Thavy School. Thousands of students cram there before exams.
I think it's definitely worth a shot. Surely someone out there has tried this.
Seems to me the first step is to find a beautiful Cambodian girlfriend who speaks English at least a little bit and can navigate the hairier aspects of the process
You could set up a 2400 riel shop.
pew, pew, pew, pew!
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That's about what it costs per hour to study in the center I mentioned.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
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I don't know much about ESL stuff, just that there are cram centers of some form here.telescopic wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 2:35 pmI don't see any schools that appear to be true ESL cram schools, like what you would find in Vietnam, S Korea, or Taiwan (outfits like Shane English School, Wall Street English) with evening and weekend classes taught by a native speaker. I'm sure there must be a few in Phnom P, but the market seems woefully under served beyond that. Perhaps the ESL cram school model is still seen as too casual for wealthy Cambodians?Lucky Lucan wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 1:37 pmThere are plenty of places doing this, for example Chey Thavy School. Thousands of students cram there before exams.
I think it's definitely worth a shot. Surely someone out there has tried this.
Seems to me the first step is to find a beautiful Cambodian girlfriend who speaks English at least a little bit and can navigate the hairier aspects of the process
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
telescopic, with your work experience, you could do it. "English Street", back of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, used to have a dozen ESL schools.
Get a good location, start smallish, but very nice, hire great staff and pay them well, jump through the government hoops. With luck you'll break even within the first 18 months. Then ask your great teachers to find more great teachers and expand. In 5 years you'll be doing well. In 20 years, you can compete with ACE, the biggest player in the crowded, but not overcrowded market. Good luck!
Get a good location, start smallish, but very nice, hire great staff and pay them well, jump through the government hoops. With luck you'll break even within the first 18 months. Then ask your great teachers to find more great teachers and expand. In 5 years you'll be doing well. In 20 years, you can compete with ACE, the biggest player in the crowded, but not overcrowded market. Good luck!
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2400 riel won't be enough for the services I'm suggesting. But I figure if you can afford a Ford Raptor, then you can afford to pay $20 to send little Samnang to ESL school in the evenings for 4 hours a week. And I can count about 20 of those pearly white pickup trucks just by walking half a kilometer down the road in Battambang.Lucky Lucan wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 5:18 pmThat's about what it costs per hour to study in the center I mentioned.
I noticed Wall Street English has set up a few schools in Yangoon. I find it suspicious that they would've skipped Cambodia for a much more difficult country to do business in...
Or,...
A 27 Dec New York Times article, "Is A.I. the Future of Test Prep?"
Gives the example of Riiid, a "a start-up founded in Korea by YJ Jang, a graduate of Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Riiid already has a strong presence in the Asian test-prep app market for the Test of English for International Communication, or TOEIC, which measures English-language proficiency for business. Now, Riiid is about to enter the SAT and ACT prep market in the United States."
We all saw, during the pandemic school closures, that most students thrive in classrooms. I don't see them disappearing, nor good human teachers. However, although remote learning was at best a limited success, online learning is great for lots of specific needs. (e.g. we ALL use YouTube to quickly learn how to fix something, prepare a new dish, or pick up a new skill.)
AI can be trained to find strengths and weaknesses and apply teaching strategies tailored to individual students. What do you think, are A.I. cram school apps the answer?
A 27 Dec New York Times article, "Is A.I. the Future of Test Prep?"
Gives the example of Riiid, a "a start-up founded in Korea by YJ Jang, a graduate of Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Riiid already has a strong presence in the Asian test-prep app market for the Test of English for International Communication, or TOEIC, which measures English-language proficiency for business. Now, Riiid is about to enter the SAT and ACT prep market in the United States."
We all saw, during the pandemic school closures, that most students thrive in classrooms. I don't see them disappearing, nor good human teachers. However, although remote learning was at best a limited success, online learning is great for lots of specific needs. (e.g. we ALL use YouTube to quickly learn how to fix something, prepare a new dish, or pick up a new skill.)
AI can be trained to find strengths and weaknesses and apply teaching strategies tailored to individual students. What do you think, are A.I. cram school apps the answer?
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I don't see what cars have to do with anything, but a whole lot of schoolkids (depending on their national school schedule)spend their mornings/ afternoons studying at various language centers such as AiA, ACE, Beltei etc already. There are hundreds of these places.telescopic wrote: ↑Wed Dec 28, 2022 11:00 amBut I figure if you can afford a Ford Raptor, then you can afford to pay $20 to send little Samnang to ESL school in the evenings for 4 hours a week.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
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Agreed, the market is completely saturated. With some big players - many, many smaller schools have tried and failed to compete.Lucky Lucan wrote: ↑Wed Dec 28, 2022 1:39 pmI don't see what cars have to do with anything, but a whole lot of schoolkids (depending on their national school schedule)spend their mornings/ afternoons studying at various language centers such as AiA, ACE, Beltei etc already. There are hundreds of these places.telescopic wrote: ↑Wed Dec 28, 2022 11:00 amBut I figure if you can afford a Ford Raptor, then you can afford to pay $20 to send little Samnang to ESL school in the evenings for 4 hours a week.
Not that all of them are doing a good job though, but as long as the school has a shiny veneer and it looks nice, the parents will continue to fork out the funds to send the kids to study. Despite the kids showing little improvement year on year.
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I figure if you are up to your eyeballs in debt with 70% of your salary going towards paying off your Ford Raptor over 7 years. Then extra classes for little Samnang will be a low priority.telescopic wrote: ↑Wed Dec 28, 2022 11:00 amBut I figure if you can afford a Ford Raptor, then you can afford to pay $20 to send little Samnang to ESL school in the evenings for 4 hours a week.Lucky Lucan wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 5:18 pmThat's about what it costs per hour to study in the center I mentioned.
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