The PIE: Why do you think many of your clients are studying abroad?

KW: I would say there are more and more people who realise that study abroad is an intelligent holiday. Let’s pretend we are in our 20s, we have 2 or 3 week holiday to plan. You go on holidays alone. However much of a go getter you are, it’s still going to take you one or two days to warm up, to get to know people. You had that day a bit Lost in Translation…. With study abroad, from day one, you’re immediately into socialising.

The PIE: And will agencies remain vital in the distribution chain- or maybe let’s word it differently, what’s the agency industry going to look like in five year’s time?

KW: It’s clear that the fragmented nature of the agency market might be more consolidated. Because of the fragmented side of things, for a school it becomes much more costly as well to have to service so many agencies.

The PIE: Why don’t you think it has consolidated until now? 

KW: Well, we are in the process, don’t you think so?

The PIE: Um, I can’t think of many good examples of international chains of agencies to be honest. 

KW: No that’s true, you can still count them on the left hand of Django Reinhardt; it’s more explicit for the moment on the school side of things. On the agency side of things, today it’s just about having an internet connection and you can start. Look at Switzerland, it’s a country where you might have big agencies, medium agencies, and very small kitchen table agencies or whatever you want to call them.

The PIE: You’re a big company now – how do you maintain the youthful company profile that you have? 

KW: It’s true that one of the images people had and still have of ESL is that we are the young company. I’m quite proud of definitely seeing people as our wealth as a company. We believe in the potential of people and as a company which offers not only language training but life training, etc.. the least we could do is also have an approach with our staff related to personal and professional development.

The PIE: And why do you think Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) should be integral to our industry.. [this is something that ESL has championed and developed a CSR self-assessment tool for schools].

KW: Part of our DNA is definitely a commitment to sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) and because we try to be creative and to stimulate excellence among the schools related to accommodation, academic, b2b operational services, so CSR was quite logical.

“It makes sense to invest my professional time into this”

I believe also in that aspect of sustainable development which is very much the b2b side of things; To see that it is not going against the idea of profit. It is compatible with it. It’s only when you can start thinking in those terms that you can see that it’s totally linked – the famous PPP – people planet profit. Which for me was a beautiful striking thing.

The PIE: An epiphany. 

KW: It makes sense to invest my time, my professional time into this. You know it was hours and hours I have spent developing and communicating around the self-assessment tool. But it was the possibility to share best practices. It is a word that I like to use, “Best Practices”. Because sometimes in the world too many things are levelled with a low dynamic. Refer to the highest level. And best practices shows this. That if we can recognise among different practices which ones are the best, we should all strive for this.