Myngle presented to KLM Club Africa
Dear Myngle community,
Last Tuesday we were invited to present Myngle to KLM Club Africa, an exclusive network for people doing business with or in Africa.
Amongst other presenters were FMO, a Dutch Development Bank, and main speaker the Kenyan ambassador H.E. Mrs. Ruthie Chepkoech Rono. The conference was combined with a network event and a nice African buffet, all at the Cobra museum, a place that, given the name, was obviously not chosen by chance.
This time, I presented Myngle in the broader perspective of offering the right solutions to busy professionals working with or in Africa, as well as equal opportunities for teachers in less developed Countries.
The presentation was very well received and reactions were enthusiastic.
The ambassador of Kenya commented that it is always appreciated as sign of interest and respect when professionals interested in doing business in Kenya are able to speak at least some basic words of Swahili. In Africa, business is built on relationships, and being able to speak some of the language is useful to break the initial ice.
The public showed real interest in Myngle, they demand quality as well as convenience. Price is not an issue, the need for a result is.
Main conclusions: the market is still predominantly offline, the customer is unsecure as it is facing a shift and an unknown product. If we can combine the quality of their existing offline experience with the convenience and variety of online, we are solving a real pain of our potential students.
Serious students are out there, we just need to reassure them and guide them by hand.
March 27th, 2009 at 4:17 am
Hello Marina,
I really appreciate your effort of reaching out……building a network of languages even to places of uncertainty. Africa, just like many other countries, might be a bit difficult to penetrate in terms of the system we have. There are major factors that may hinder them (one of which I wrote in response to Myths about E-learning) and they are obviously understandable. But your effort of going there is already a big leap for them to know that such language websites, like Myngle, really exists. I am optimistic that someday we can find long lists of registered African students in the Students Column.
…or may be, they are waiting for something concrete, like “LANGUAGE FAIR IN AFRICA”..What do you think?…..hehheehehe.
Good luck. “GOD ALWAYS GUIDES THOSE WITH UNBLEMISHED INTENTS”.
klara
March 27th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Thank you Klara for your always so warm support.
You know that I always had this dream of bringing language learning in any corner of the world, as well as bringing working opportunities in Countries where the work is scarce.
I imagine that if those teachers (in Africa or other Countries) could be able to give just a few hours of lessons on Myngle, to students in the western Countries who can afford it, that would make a real difference in their life.
And yes, I’d like Myngle to offer equal opportunities, bringing language education to students that are not in the same fortunate situation as we are here in Europe.
A step at the time… we will get there…
April 5th, 2009 at 5:06 am
That is really a very important step. I always have offline students from different European countries that were completely unaware if the e. learning. They wished to know about that before coming to a country like Egypt, totally different culture and language, they wished even to know how to pronounce the name of the places so that the taxi driver would understand them. Being busy businessmen make them even ignorance about how to find even an offline teacher.
I really also admire your goal “I imagine that if those teachers (in Africa or other Countries) could be able to give just a few hours of lessons on Myngle, to students in the western Countries who can afford it, that would make a real difference in their life.”
Some African countries including Egypt suffer from low income and very limited ways to improve that which make some of who have any good skill or know any foreign language thinking of finding other place to build their future.
Well done and I do wish you a good luck
Happy Myngling here
April 16th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
Thank you Soaad,
we are setting the stage for the future of Myngle here, reaching out for all those people that really need to learn a language and offering them flexibility and convenience and quality. Online teaching is new, but it is not a matter of IF, but WHEN it will start reaching the mass.
We are getting ready for that…
Marina