InFlux Escola de Idiomas, a participant in Franchising Brasil — the result of a partnership between ApexBrasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency) and ABF (Brazilian Franchising Association) — recently opened its first unit abroad, in the Portuguese city of Braga. The chain has just completed the internationalization process, which started three years ago, with the opening of the first operation outside Brazil.
According to Luciana Pires, the professional responsible for installing the first unit outside Brazil, even though Influx is a Brazilian brand, the business is aimed at all residents of Braga and region. For 2022, the brand has a strategy to focus on all areas of the country, with attention focused on the countryside’s cities. The network also intends to continue to grow in the European market, with a gateway to Portugal, a continent where it has already won the patent for the brand.
Ricardo Leal, CEO of the chain, is very proud of the opening of the brand abroad: “We are happy and satisfied to be able to expand our inFlux brand to Europe. We see it as a recognition that we have brought something really innovative in teaching English, with proven results and that fulfills our promises to students to the point that we export this method to another continent”, he says with joy.
Created in Curitiba, the brand has been operating in the franchising market for 17 years and has 50,000 students and more than 200 units spread across 22 Brazilian states and a store abroad. Of these, 160 are active in operation and 40 are in the implementation process. In addition, the group holds 14 awards for excellence, including the 5-star seal of the Best Franchises in Brazil 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 award. The brand has also won the title of Outstanding Excellence in Franchising by ABF nine times.
According to Leonardo Paixão, Influx’s founder and CFO, the network, as well as the entire education sector, suffered from the results of the pandemic. “We had to reallocate budgets earmarked for expansion to formatting hybrid courses, taking the team to the class recording studio and creating new products to leverage the brand’s courses on other fronts,” explains the CFO. Even so, there were already candidates interested in opening a unit in Portugal and the network did not stop investing in its internationalization process. “We didn’t back down and we didn’t close any unit, we even opened the franchise in Braga”, completes Leonardo.
Regarding Influx’s competitive advantage, the CFO guarantees that it is the school’s methodology: fast, effective and that actually delivers language learning to students with quality and less time. “Without a doubt, our biggest differential is the methodology that takes the student further in less time”, adds Paixão.
The network also offers its customers the international certificate, made through a test recognized abroad, which guarantees that the student has actually finished the course with advanced English. “We also sign a learning commitment contract, certifying that the student will be able, within two and a half years, to obtain 700 points or more on the TOEIC® proficiency test, the equivalent of the English level required for high-level positions of management and directors board in multinationals. If the student does not learn, he can take the course for free again”, concludes the founder.
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.