Soloingles Blog

THE MAN WITH THE AMERICAS ON HIS MOBILE

Thursday January 15th 2009. Tony Gonclaves reports

Uruguay may not be the most obvious source of English language tuition, but an Argentinian entrepreneur is convinced that the South American country provides the launch pad for his new venture to teach the language via mobile phone to the rest of the continent, and beyond.

Uruguay can already claim to have one of South America’s most highly active English-language learning populations and now it is set to pioneer the latest mobile-phone technology in its pursuit of communication skills. Soloingles.com is an English language teaching website that already offers online courses, a translation service and an education social networking site. Its most recent product is an English learning service via mobile phone.“Everything is possible thanks to the technology,” says Rodolfo Llanos, co-founder of Soloingles, and an ­entrepreneur who began his involvement with English language teaching because of the Argentinian financial crisis of 2002.

Llanos, 39, who is originally from Argentina, had lost his job in management as a result of the recession. With starting capital of just $500 he set up an internet-based distance-learning platform in neighbouring Uruguay.

Llanos spotted a niche market for his product in Uruguay and six years on Soloingles now has clients in Mexico and Spain, and is making a modest profit of $2,000 a month.

“I was unemployed and started looking for a practical and economical way to teach English. So we went into an internet cafe and started teaching through Net Meeting, a free video conferencing program. First, we targeted young students and hired a teacher to teach one-to-one lessons. But then we realised that the best market was corporate English: people in management positions who don’t usually have time to attend traditional classes in schools.”

Llanos is now using a similar model to deliver short English-language ­lessons to users of Uruguay’s Claro mobile phone network. The lessons are promoted to mobile users by text messages and once they sign up, by simply sending a reply text, they are guided to the Soloingles website where they can request a one-minute lessons to be sent to their mobile as a free trial. Once logged on to the website, students can also watch videos, read ­articles, do grammar exercises and work on their listening skills.

The aim is to offer practical but short lessons that will appeal to busy people who are on the move, and the content is entirely automated. Solo­ingles’ team of teachers update the site with new practice material but they do not guide learners.

Each lesson costs about 50 cents, a price that Llanos believes will make the service affordable for a large share of Uruguay’s mobile phone users.

At the moment this service is being offered in Uruguay only, but it will soon be available in Argentina, followed by Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia. “We are on the final stages of negotiations with the mobile operators,” says Llanos. 

The company works with three shifts of six teachers, but staff numbers are set to increase by 30% as the new Lessons Through Mobiles system gets established. The company has also incorporated group lessons to increase profitability.

Llanos has plans for Soloingles’s other products, in particular its portable translator. He says this product is ideal for those who travel for business and need to attend meetings in English, but don’t have time to improve their language skills.

“The system is simple. An interpreter is hired, and at the beginning of a meeting the client connects to the interpreter via the internet,” he ­explains. “It is practical and economical. To get an interpreter in New York for less than $100 an hour is impossible. With this system you will be paying $30 an hour,” Llanos says.

The next step is to harness more ­sophisticated mobile phones. “We want to use third-generation mobile phones to connect clients and interpreters via video as well as audio,” he says.

Llanos is also preparing Soloingles’s entrance in the US market. “There is a great demand for Spanish lessons in the US and we are coming in with a competitive offer with easy access.”

He is also considering developing business for the European market. His idea is to provide language support for tourists who are travelling to South America.

Despite high expectations, Llanos is aware of the daunting task ahead. The internet and technology are still considered expensive in South America, he says, and Uruguay has more work to do to establish its credentials as an English language teaching provider among its neighbours.

But Llanos is undaunted. He is confident that Soloingles will attract up to 100,000 users in Uruguay and he has set himself the goal of turning a company that started in a humble internet cafe into a brand that will be present in 22 countries by the end of 2009.

Enlace con la Nota Original: http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=895&catID=18

La periodista Mercedes Garcia, me formuló la semana anterior una entrevista para la sección emprendedores del diario La Nación.

Mercedes es muy simpática, sus preguntas fueron realmente muy buenas y se tomo el tiempo de conocer cada aspecto de nuestra actividad. Realmente me sentí muy cómodo  con ella y agradezco el tiempo que nos brindo.

También agradezco toda la gestión de prensa que viene desarrollando mi amigo Fernando Horowitz, editor de www.eldepornauta.com, ya que ha puesto con su trabajo a soloingles.com en los principales medios de la República Argentina. Gracias Fer!

Todos los emprendedores que necesiten un agente de prensa que realmente se ponga la camiseta de tu empresa, no dejar de ponerse en contacto con Fernando Horowitz a través de su diario digital o escribiéndome que les facilitare todos sus datos.

También aprovecho para incentivar a todos los emprendedores que comenzaron sus actividades desde el autoempleo y aprovecho para decirles que “soñar es el primer paso para concretar un proyecto”

Pueden leer la nota completa haciendo click aquí: http://www.lanacion.com.ar/nota.asp?nota_id=1028007