Kumon, a company participating in Franchising Brasil — the result of a partnership between ApexBrasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency) and ABF (Brazilian Franchising Association) — is a unique methodology that has been helping students for over 50 years. This year, the company completes 45 years of operations in South America, an extremely valued achievement for all franchisees and collaborators.
The network operates in 55 countries and regions, always paying attention to the differences in lifestyle, education systems, and culture of each location. The brand also has a thorough process for recruiting franchisees. Besides a team of specialized consultants allocated in strategic cities, the group uses geomarketing tools, on-site visits, and mapping of the priority regions for opening a franchise.
According to Thiago Alves de Lima, general manager responsible for the expansion of the Spanish-speaking countries in South America, the group’s expansion abroad is on the rise: “Today, at the South American headquarters, we have opening opportunities in seven countries, namely Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay. We are also studying how to enter new countries such as Paraguay and Ecuador,” he says.
During the pandemic period, the network sought to adapt to the hybrid format. From 2020 to 2021, there was a major evolution in the Kumon method globally: the brand focused on maintaining the quality of the classes and began to act strongly in development and communication with students and their families. The methodology already featured e-learning, and with the implementation of remote learning, it was possible to bring the brand even closer to the customers and their parents, strengthening ties and communication between the parties.
For 2022, the network aims to further strengthen its franchises, providing effective support to its franchisees and employees. “In addition, our mission is to continue helping more students develop through the Kumon Method so that they can make a difference in society”, explains the manager.
Kumon
Kumon was created to encourage children to be autonomous in their studies, seeking to strengthen each one’s learning potential. The company offers several types of programs, ranging from math classes to language instruction, such as English, Portuguese, and Japanese. The network has 2,250 units and more than 225,000 students in Latin America and continues to expand year after year. It was also elected, by the magazine “Pequenas Empresas & Grandes Negócios” (Small Business & Big Deals), a five-star franchise for the 12th time in a row.
The group’s mission is to bring its essence to everyday life and routine activities, always seeking to strengthen partnerships and relationships between franchisors and franchisees.
About the competitive advantages of Kumon, Thiago points out: “Our greatest differential is in discovering the potential of each individual and developing their abilities to the maximum. By doing so we will form mentally healthy and capable people, thus contributing to the global community. Our purpose is not only that our students finish the method to become experts in math, English, and Portuguese. We want our students to develop skills such as: autodidacticism, self-confidence, responsibility, logical thinking, concentration, ability to learn by oneself, attention, among other characteristics so important for any human being at any stage of life”.
About Franchising Brasil
Franchising Brasil is a joint project of the Brazilian Franchising Association (ABF) and the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil), which aims to support the internationalization strategy of Brazilian franchise networks and their international trade promotion. The initiative was conceived to promote this recognized business model in the main international markets.