A special service franchise from Ahead Review & Tutorial Center

The usual franchise options in the market are food, spa and even laundry services. But an educational business like review and tutorial service like that of Ahead Review & Tutorial Center is hardly an option that would-be entrepreneurs could consider.

Understandably so because review or tutorial business is highly seasonal— just when there are tests to be hurdled or a student needs to be coached to improve his marks in school.  It is not what is commonly considered a year-round profitable business.

But Ahead’s joining the Association of Filipino Franchisers Inc. in the 10th franchising expo at the Megatrade Hall this July is precisely intended to showcase that the business of providing educational services like review and tutorial is a very profitable franchise option.

Ahead president and CEO Rosanna L. Llenado said review and testing centers have mushroomed in recent years “precisely because of the need of students to excel in school and ensure that they pass the competitive tests offered by esteemed institutions like the UP, Ateneo and La Salle.”

Since Ahead was the first to establish a hold in the niche market of A and upper B market, it has been able to enjoy better referral rates from satisfied customers to others needing review or tutoring.

Llenado—herself a most reluctant educator— set up Ahead first as single proprietorship in 1995 at a capital of P200,000. The company was incorporated in June 1997. She gets her pool of “young teachers from the top three (summa cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude) graduates of UP, Ateneo and La Salle each year to beef up her teaching staff that not only handles students but also teachers and principals as well.

Ahead offers review classes, lectures and one on one tutorial in addition to providing students review manuals to work on—with the review questions often matching the actual tests being given by UP, Ateneo and La Salle, Llenado said.

When Ahead started, there was just Llenado—herself a cum laude from UP Los Banos and two other cum laude graduates and one each of summa cum laude and magna cum laude as teaching staff.

Now, the teaching staff has grown to 50 lecturers and 300 tutors spread in three centers in Metro Manila: the main in Katipunan, Quezon City, another one in Greenhills near La Salle and another at Robinson’s Galleria; plus two other franchised centers in Dagupan, Pangasinan and Alabang.

Ahead is looking at three levels of franchising: a) the Metro Manila franchise (preferably any area with high foot and motor traffic with total area of 82 to 100 sq.m.); b) provincial franchise or c) regional franchise (where franchisee takes care of the entire region), explained Ed Cruz, Business Development manager of Ahead.

The would-be franchisee takes care of looking for the site and constructing the center but the main office will first assess the location and assess the franchisee as to dedication to education; business acumen and organizational preparedness, Cruz said.

“The franchisee is first bestowed by Ahead the right to franchise the business for 18 months. If he/she passes the test, we give him the privilege to carry, protect and preserve our brand and the goodwill it has earned through the years,” Llenado said.

Each center must have a “classroom type room for review of 46 students or more and the rest of the area will be devoted to tutorials and administrative staff requirement. So ideally, the center must have an area of 100 sq.m.,” Llenado explained.

The peak season for review is from summer to November (since UPCAT is early August, Ateneo College Entrance Test is September and La Salle Entrance Test is November) but tutoring service peaks during summer for entrance tests in high school for these schools.

Lately, Ahead has forged an agreement with the Department of Education to teach the top performers in select public schools to prepare them for high school in any science universities or colleges and top graduates of public schools getting scholarships in any of the top three institutions of the country. Ahead is also in charge of administering the admission tests of Pathways, a group that takes charge of giving scholarships to indigent but intelligent students.

Ahead has also been conducting tutoring and review to principals and top school officials of leading private and public schools in the country, thereby expanding its revenue base further, Llenado said.

“In a sense, my company has gone beyond just what my competitors are doing just now. We are now a step ahead because we also train the trainors,” she said.