Romanians prioritize education, so much so that the southeastern European country is among those displaying what’s known as the shadow education phenomenon. Private tutoring, coaching and academic enrichment are prevalent and widely viewed as necessary, particularly among families in a higher socioeconomic class.
“In 2008, when we saw the economic downturn, the last thing parents would cut was services that impacted their kids,” said Mathnasium franchisee Dana Bănică. “Private tutoring has been part of our lives forever.”
One in three children participate in paid tutoring lessons, a 2021 study by the Romanian Academic Society and the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy found. Parents, on average, pay 300 lei—about $65—per child each month for private sessions. Mathematics, along with literature and foreign languages, are top subjects.
That cultural embracement of education is essential as Bănică prepares to develop at least 25 Mathnasium Learning Centers in Romania after signing a master franchise agreement. Bănică, who has her engineering degree, is a master franchisee for Budapest-based coding school concept Logiscool. It was the Logiscool connection that led her to consider Mathnasium after the math tutoring company contacted her as it sought a potential program partner.
Romania, said Benjamin Simon, Mathnasium’s regional vice president of international development, wasn’t at the top of the brand’s global expansion list, but Bănică “had the acumen that made it an intriguing proposition.”
Bănică visited the brand’s locations in the United Kingdom—Mathnasium has more than 1,100 centers in 11 countries—to better understand the value proposition and day-to-day operations before signing a deal. She said she appreciated Mathnasium’s emphasis on helping students enjoy math, an approach she expects will resonate with children and parents in Romania, which has become a major IT hub for Europe.
“I liked their mission to help kids understand math, then master it and love it,” she said. “The experience of the kids is important so they enjoy the process of learning math, rather than it being a burden. That was the biggest selling point.”
Because Romanian families are more familiar with private, in-home tutoring, Bănică said she’ll focus early on educating the market on the learning center model. She plans to tap into the math student population at top universities in the country to recruit tutors somewhat closer in age to the kids they’ll be teaching.
“The fact that they are young helps with the communication with kids,” she said. “They can relate, and it feels different that just going to school.”
Bănică is in the process of adapting Mathnasium’s system to Romania’s national curriculum and is targeting a January opening for her first center, in the country’s capital of Bucharest.
Strategic steps required
Simon, who joined Mathnasium not long before Roark Capital acquired the company in late 2021, said the private equity firm has since made investments in business intelligence tools to understand the potential unit economics in various international markets.
“In America, sometimes the belief is if it works in America, it should work everywhere,” said Simon, who prior to Mathnasium led international sales and development for CKE Restaurants in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “But that’s not always the case.”
The translation and adaptation of Mathnasium’s curriculum and methodology is complex and expensive, he noted, so the company works to ensure the size of a market and discretionary income of families will allow it to recoup that upfront investment.
“We look at the volume of the potential market and how is education accepted. How is education valued and are after-school programs in demand,” he said. Education in Romania is so ingrained, he continued, “people would rather ride their bike so they can pay for their kids to go to after-school programs.”
The brand also aims to leverage language. The translation necessary to launch Mathnasium in Mexico, for example, can be used in other Spanish-speaking markets. With the curriculum translated into Arabic, master franchisee Asma Aldahlawi opened the first centers in Saudi Arabia last year as part of a 45-unit agreement and the company is looking to grow elsewhere in the region.
Springboard regions too, such as Vietnam, which with 28 centers is the brand’s largest international market, will serve to help Mathnasium launch in more Southeast Asia countries. Phan Tan Nghia, the master franchisee in Vietnam, last year signed a new agreement to open an additional 25 locations.
With its master franchise system, Mathnasium typically seeks groups looking to diversify their portfolio and those with experience capturing revenue from a scattered network, said Simon. Centers are located in higher population urban and suburban cities, which can mean they’re more spread out in a given market than, say, a fast-food restaurant franchise.
Franchisees must also have strong knowledge of local commercial real estate, as units perform best when they have high visibility and are located in areas where parents can run other errands while their child is in a session.
Growth potential, said Simon, exists in India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Spain, and several South American countries.
Source: Michaels, L. (2024, August 27). New Master Franchisee Brings Mathnasium to Romania. Retrieved October 10, 2024, from franchisetimes.com website: https://www.franchisetimes.com/international_franchising/new-master-franchisee-brings-mathnasium-to-romania/article_4f280ee0-5e40-11ef-8c71-27f8dca3a39e.html
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