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
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