Wall Street English has taken over a competitor in Spain, offering over 1,000 students access to its pandemic-adapted concept. At the same time, the owner of Wall Street English France has now become the master franchisee for Spain. With 4 centers by the end of the year, and 20 more planned by 2025, the business is now set for further growth in the country.
Conversion to the Wall Street English Brand
The Covid19 pandemic has caused major disruption in the English training market, especially for center-based providers with more traditional face-to-face approaches, who have had to rapidly find alternate solutions to deliver their services to their clients.
During the lockdown period, Wall Street English launched its online class facility as an enhancement to its award-winning blended learning platform, allowing over 150,000 students worldwide to continue learning English uninterrupted. As centers now progressively re-open, learners have the choice to study online, in-center, or a mix of both, offering learners the best of both worlds: highly effective in-center classes along with flexible online courses.
The new market requirements and the necessity to offer a state of the art online training solution are what led the owner of Boost School of English, a group with well-established locations in Barcelona and Valencia, to switch to a brand that has recently added online classes to its established blended approach: Wall Street English was the perfect match!
By the end of the year over 1,000 Boost English learners will be able to convert and commence courses under the Wall Street English method. Staff from the previous operation will be taken on as part of the deal.
Jordi Dalet, owner of the English schools being converted, states:
“We are proud to have found a strong solution for our clients, adaptable to the current uncertain and changing conditions. It will enable them to enjoy all the advantages of the Wall Street English methodology, which is proven to deliver strong learning results, guaranteed contractually, and is very well suited to the challenges of the ‘new normal’ environment.”
Plans for Further Growth in Spain: New Master Franchise Partner
Through the brand conversion, adding to existing centers in Cartagena (South of Spain) and Terrassa (near Barcelona, Catalonia), the Wall Street English brand will now be present in the cities of Barcelona and Valencia. These regions cover around 27% of the English learners in Spain, according to research conducted by Morar Consulting (now Savanta) in 2018.
A survey conducted by HTF Market Intelligence in 2018 confirms that the English learning market in Spain is worth more than € 1bn yearly and is expected to continue growing significantly in the coming years, in spite of the current pandemic situation. As explained in this recent blog post, Spain represents a highly attractive investment opportunity with the potential to open multiple centers across the country. (Read more here).
These latest openings represent the start of ambitious growth plans across the country, as the company reveals it has signed an agreement with a new country-wide master franchisee, Natanael Wright, owner of Wall Street English France. With 55 centers in France already and plans to continue developing the market in the coming years, Natanael and his team have a proven track record in building the brand across a large territory. Today the French network has extensive geographical coverage, many sub-franchise partners and is a leading top-of-mind education brand in the country.
Asked about this new acquisition, Natanael Wright states:
“Difficult times like those we are all facing sometimes generate opportunities. We had planned to move into Spain next year but decided to expedite the decision when an opportunity arose to take over a competitor with schools in Barcelona and Valencia, but with no online solution for its clients.
It’s going to be a big stretch for the French team already fully concentrated on France and the Covid19 crisis, but we believe we have found the right person and the right team to lead the operations in Spain.
It is the first time we have decided convert a network of existing English schools and believe this is a strong way to scale up, especially at this time. The crisis has made us stronger with a pandemic-adapted concept and the possibility to offer our students both in-center and online courses. We invite other English schools in Spain to join us should they recognise the need for a more profitable concept ready for post-Covid times.”
Now is the Right Time to Invest
The evolved business model that Wall Street English has developed through the crisis further strengthens its position as a market leader in the industry, and improves the investment proposition for franchise partners and investors. As a demonstration of the resilience of the new model, the brand was launched in the Dominican Republic in the midst of the crisis, selling and delivering courses wholly online, while waiting for Covid restrictions to be lifted to open the physical center.
In addition, partners in France, Italy, Hong Kong, and Tunisia are already planning new center openings, while further agreements have been signed to open centers in Algeria, Belgium and Kazakhstan, besides Spain. Negotiations are also underway for further new countries, with investors looking for a modern solution suitable for today’s market needs.
Lex Baker, Director of New Business Development at Wall Street English, says: “Not only have our company and franchise partners dealt with the crisis well, we have created a blueprint for future growth, with a model that clearly differentiates the brand in the market. With new revenue channels and a wider target audience to address alongside our center-based operations, we believe that we are now best set to retain our market leadership and further gain market share.”
If you wish to receive more information about brand conversion or about any franchise opportunities available at Wall Street English, please contact us by filling in the form below.
