BREXIT Challenges

March 29th was BREXIT day, when the UK government triggered Article 50, starting a 24 month process to disengage from the European Union.  The uncertainty this causes for any EU national living, working, studying or wishing to visit the UK is is immense, impacting hugely on Language Schools, Host Families and Secondary Schools right across the UK.

While the phrase may be over 100 years old, 'England's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity' seems apt today, albeit slightly modified to be 'UK's difficulty is Ireland's opportunity'.  Schools, Agents, Companies and Individuals historically inclined to head for the UK on English language Development courses are now eyeing up Ireland as the sole nation inside the EU as native English speaking.

To this end, our business development continues with potential partners right across the EU, and each and every one of them realises Visas, currency fluctuation, economic and political uncertainty can cause huge difficulties while trying to plan ahead, because simply put, in terms of the UK relationship with the EU, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

Ireland can hold it's head up high now as the sole English speaking country in the EU, Visa free for EU citizens and more, and capable of offering a high standard, the highest in student hosting and language development. 

Trade Fairs & Corporate Development

No doubt the development of any new business is demanding on the sleep pattern and finances. Luckily for us at LingooNinja & LingooSchool we have a superb team of people constantly promoting and rooting for the cause! 

Quarter one has seen some superb business development and progress. Our portal now has 130 or so vetted and verified host families, of whom we are very proud and can offer to students with absolute confidence of a wonderful Homestay or School Year experience.  We have also attend a number of Trade Fairs and Corporate Events in Ireland, Germany, Poland and Ukraine, enabling us to work with great people, and great companies. 

The hard work continues though.  Daily we need to refine our marketing & PR, as primarily we are a web based company.  However, we are also reaching out to our growing database of past students, their families, their schools and communities. It all takes time and patience :)

It has been sad to see some well established competitors change their business models in a manner we feel is detrimental to student hosting.  EF decided to "do away" with their local coordinators, meaning a huge leap in line management from student & host family up to regional management. EF have already been fending off a decline in hosts due to the low remuneration they pay, and this kicking away of the stool from local coordinators is sure to accelerate their decline in the Irish market.  Interstudies have also been struggling with host families, and several smaller companies have closed their doors altogether.  The market is changing, and fast, and we hope we are a positive influence on the improvement of student hosting in Ireland.

There is a still a lot happening next quarter. We've representatives at no less than 4 trade events, as well as substantial marketing efforts underway in our 41 identified markets.  We're fine tuning the profiles of host families as well as putting in place the schedules for day trips and school enrolement.

Because our host families are integral to the success of our company, we have put considerable effort into their development.  That development will continue with some web training on profile development, and some assistance in student PR and handling. There is no time for sleep! 

As always, our focus remains on driving up standards in Ireland for any student visiting.  We will never become the kind of "sign up and dump on doorstep" company others have turned into.  Our students get to pick the host family they wish to go to, we don't force them into families.  Our students get to decide their package and experience, it's never going to be a one size fits all. That's what makes LingooSchool & LingooNinja different, and better! 

Host Family - Quality First

When we launched LingooNinja & LingooSchool we decided it wasn't going to be a vehicle just anyone could jump on. There are other student exchange companies for that!

Our aim is tripartite - Transparent Pricing, Quality Hosts, Local Support. To that end, we're operating effectively and meeting targets. 

While most business comes from referrals, our best advertisement is how our host families are presented. That means good quality host family profiles which we can promote and justify the program we're selling and "wow" students by the prices we're charging.

It's great to see so many profiles looking so well.  Weekly we'll check and encourage updates and improvements. An updated profile is visited more frequently and attracts longer stays. Longer stays mean greater retention rates and more bookings.

March is a busy month. Trade Fairs in Germany, school visits in Poland and events elsewhere.  It's all happening. So stay tuned in and in contact!

Team LingooNinja & LingooSchool