As an educational venture analyst, I have responded in the following way:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 CEO Credibility<\/strong><\/p>\n Ramona Materi exudes capability in that she is the co-chair of the Canadian e-learning Enterprise Alliance, the President of Ingenia Training, and the Director of E-learning BC. \u00a0Ramona Materi conveys confidence by maintaining that Ingenia has a place in the SE Asian market like Vietnam.\u00a0 As well, Ramona Materi asserts that Ingenia can be successful in this market because Ingenia has young, strong, good people and quality products and services. \u00a0However, exuding and conveying do not translate into success against all odds.\u00a0 Indeed, market forces\/corrections, competition, currency fluctuations, operating costs, rules and regulations, government intervention, to name a few, play a major role in determining success or failure of any company, especially a young company like Ingenia.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 Management Team<\/strong><\/p>\n Ingenia is comprised of a small core team of designers and consultants with Master and PhD degrees (with appointments at universities), but there is no mention of the team\u2019s fields of related expertise, training, and\/or experience.\u00a0 The team is establishing partnership with a Vietnamese software company in conjunction with the World Bank.\u00a0 However, the business partnership\/establishment remains pending.<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 Business Model<\/strong><\/p>\n The team has done some homework in that it knows that there are 80 million people in Vietnam of which 75% of the population is under the age of thirty years.\u00a0 The team also knows that other entrepreneurs have moved into the e-learning market, setting up a private campus, for example.\u00a0 The argument is not compelling and I do not know if the information is accurate, but, as an EVA, I am interested in sales, past investments, the overall strength of the company, and marketplace dominance.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0 Competitive Products<\/strong><\/p>\n Ingenia is a consulting firm\/services company, which is a harder sell than products, for the ROI can be longer and even more volatile because such companies can take a long time to establish; sometimes too long for investors (venture capitalists).\u00a0 As an EVA, I am perplexed by Ingenia\u2019s inability to gain some market share in Canada and the US.\u00a0 After all, Ingenia is already twelve years old.\u00a0 This is not what investors really want to hear.\u00a0 I do not really know where Ingenia stands in terms of its valuation even though the company is seeking investments of $100,000CDN.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0 Market Readiness<\/strong><\/p>\n Ingenia has already been in business for twelve years, but the company has been unsuccessful in breaking into the Canadian and American markets.\u00a0 As such, the company is trying to break into the Vietnamese market even though other companies have already moved in.\u00a0 Ramona Materi did mention that the Japanese (i.e. Japanese companies established in Vietnam) think long term, but Canadians and Americans do not.\u00a0 In turn, perhaps the Ingenia team should consider outside investors instead of Canadian or American investors.\u00a0 Otherwise, Ingenia\u2019s path to success might be long and challenging.<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0 Technical Innovation<\/strong><\/p>\n I do not think that this company has an edge; I did not see, hear, or feel it.\u00a0 Ramona Materi appeared to be honest, hard-working, forward moving, and forward thinking, but she seemed to lack the conviction, the pizzazz, the \u2018pitch\u2019 that presumably comes with selling an idea, a concept, or a product.<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0 Exit Strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n Based on Ramona Materi\u2019s pitch, I suspect that the team is looking to establish itself in foreign markets like Vietnam rather than the home market, which is said to be a very tough market because of stiff competition from established e-learning players in Canada and the US.\u00a0 In turn, the team\u2019s destination seems to be clear: foreign markets.\u00a0 Here, Ramona Materi asserts that success is more viable in SE Asian markets, a relatively untapped e-learning market.<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0 Overall Investment Status<\/strong><\/p>\n In the words of Kevin O\u2019Leary (CBC’s Dragon’s Den), \u201cShow me the money!\u201d\u00a0 I would not invest $100,000CDN in Ingenia because this consulting form\/services company is already twelve years old, unable to boast past high returns.\u00a0 And, although the ROI of 20-25% is pleasing, there is no mention of an estimated time line\/period for the ROI.\u00a0 As well, the American dollar remains low, whereas the Canadian dollar remains high: Ten cents to the American dollar is not enough of an incentive.\u00a0 I do not think this will change too much with all the wars that the US is choosing to engage in.\u00a0 Furthermore, Ingenia has had no outside investors (only internally generated funds).\u00a0 Finally, Ingenia is a niche firm in a very specialized field, facing competition in a tough market at home (i.e. Canada and the US) and even in Vietnam where the Australians have already staked a claim in the e-learning market.\u00a0 I can only imagine larger, wealthier American companies moving in very quickly into the Vietnamese e-learning marketplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As an educational venture analyst, I have responded in the following way: 1.\u00a0 CEO Credibility Ramona Materi exudes capability in that she is the co-chair of the Canadian e-learning Enterprise Alliance, the President of Ingenia Training, and the Director of E-learning BC. \u00a0Ramona Materi conveys confidence by maintaining that Ingenia has a place in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":660,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mod02business-bootcamp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/660"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2192"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2625,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions\/2625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/etec522sept09\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}