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LMDCF / LM.V Maintains Growth Focus on Ripe Latin American Markets for Online & Print-Based English Learning Products
Despite the fact that the Colombian government has taken unprecedented steps in recent years to truly transform the country into a bilingual nation, with the English language being taught by law in all schools having led to consistently increasing rates of proficiency, the 46 million plus population still ranks third from last in Latin America, and 57th out of 70 countries in the most recent EF English Proficiency Index (EPI) compile. The country still has an EPI well below the regional average for Latin America and pales by comparison with top-ranked Argentina, or the second place holder and Caribbean’s largest economy, the Dominican Republic.
Needless to say, the Colombian government is pulling out all the stops in order to harness the substantial wealth of human capital at its fingertips, with sweeping new actions designed to shore up the nation’s EPI and take full advantage of increasingly ubiquitous internet penetration, which currently stands at around 52 percent. The country’s National Training Service, SENA (Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje), likenable to the United States Department of Education, is throwing a huge amount of capital and logistical capacity at the task of expanding its existing LMS (learning management system), with the goal of incorporating more advanced e-learning content and technologies.
The latest salvo in Columbia’s economic war on the problem of underutilized human capital, is SENA’s embracing of leading English language learning-focused EdTech company Lingo Media Corporation’s (TSX-V: LM; OTCQB: LMDCF) full suite of digital education resources. Lingo Media being tapped for a multi-million dollar language learning software development contract should come as no surprise to investors who have been following the company’s exploits though and markets can likely expect even bigger news in the future along these lines as the company continues to put a growing emphasis on digital learning content. A 776 percent jump in Q2 revenue from digital learning year over year reported back in August roundly showcases how well LMDCF’s ongoing shift towards growing its digital portfolio has been, and should give those new to the table a very good idea of where the company is headed.
Lingo Media has a clearly established presence on both the digital e-learning and traditional publishing ends of the market as well. With a sizeable pre-school to post-secondary library of over 350 different program titles and individual components among its array of published educational text books and learning tools, LMDCF has a wide range of online and computer-based content already under its belt and the company even offers a comprehensive suite of sophisticated assessment tools to go along with its other materials. The company also boasts some of the easiest to use and most intuitive speech recognition-assisted learning software on the market today, with offerings like the virtual conversation tool in its Speaking Lab bundle that lets learners engage in simulated conversations, directly addressing one of the major stumbling blocks for new language learners: a lack of access to someone who speaks the language fluently, with whom to practice.
The company’s publishing division, Lingo Learning, has co-published a whopping 520 million plus units to date and maintains a considerable footprint in the $5 billion plus Chinese ESL market, co-publishing alongside People’s Education Press (PEP), which spends millions of RMB each year developing textbooks for special education in China. The co-published PEP Primary English and Starting Line series are currently used by over 60 percent of Chinese primary school students and LMDCF provides a huge selection of supplemental learning components to go along with these proven textbooks, to help accelerate the process of both teaching and learning English.
However, as recently noted by the Director of Research and Academic Partnerships for EF English Proficiency Index compiler and language training company, EF Education First, the Chinese government has taken a decided turn in recent years. Shifting away from so great an emphasis on English training in the country’s public education system is in many ways a symptom of China’s meteoric rise to the status of a leading global economic superpower. China now actually trails many regional nations like Singapore, which has the highest ranking EPI, and LMDCF has been sensitive to these winds of change for quite some time now – shifting its own focus in part more towards the e-learning market and doing so in regions that still possess premium growth potential, such as Latin America.
Far from scaling back in China, where the company recently pushed the PEP Primary English program out into multiple additional provinces, this shift is more about where new growth for LMDCF will come from. The company is aggressively hammering out new sales contracts throughout Latin America and currently has some white-hot marketing irons in the fire in both Mexico and Peru. These are exciting times for Lingo Media Corporation and the company’s advanced e-learning capabilities continue to garner more and more coverage from the investment community, with one of the most recent examples being a solid write-up on the SENA deal and the company’s extremely promising prospects moving forward, published by emerging public company research and global economic commentary outfit, Midas Letter.
President and CEO of LMDCF, Michael Kraft, got a warm reception at the QIS Capital-sponsored Small-Cap Conference in Vancouver recently, with attendees enamored by the potential of the company’s innovative online and print-based solutions.
To go behind the buzz, visit www.lingomedia.com
