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Frog gains extra legs with major deal in Malaysia
Education technology supplier Frog is accelerating its growth plans and creating jobs after winning the Malaysian Ministry of Education’s contract to install its learning platform technology into all of the country’s 10,000 state schools.
The Halifax-based company said this makes it one of the largest learning platform providers in the world.
Formed in 1999 with just two employees, Frog now has over 600 customers in the UK and 75 employees. It is now looking at taking on nearly 40 new members of staff within the next 12 months. The company provides virtual learning environments to schools in the UK and internationally.
The Frog learning platform will be delivered through FrogAsia Sdn Bhd (FrogAsia) a joint venture between Frog and the YTL Group of Malaysia, which was formed in 2011.
Gareth Davies, managing director of Frog, said the multi-million pound deal will “significantly” increase turnover, which in the year to the end of July 2011 hit £5m.
He said it not only provides the company with cash but provides credibility as well. He said: “All the money is going to be invested back into the UK. We are currently looking for about 30 new developers and some support people as well. At the moment we have got nearly 20 per cent of the secondary state schools in England so we are already a market leader.”
Mr Davies said the company is now looking at significant growth in primary schools.
In terms of product development, Mr Davies said: “At the moment we provide a learning platform product which is basically learning over the internet which allows parents to get engaged in their children’s learning from home. But what we’re doing now is we have a store which allows people to access other educational software, be that learning materials, assessments, quizzes and so on. We are becoming the glue that links everything together in a school.
“Following that we are now heading towards providing a lot more information on the students.” This includes psycometric testing of students for example so teachers know their preferred learning styles and other information to aid teaching.
Mr Davies said: “We also have an international team now in 10 different countries and we are looking to expand as much as possible. We are talking to other ministries of education in other countries about potential deals.
“We are also talking to a number of international companies about licensing our technology to be used in lots of different ways to serve their needs, not just in education but in other industries as well.” Frog made a “small loss” last year due to investment in head count, said Mr Davies, but this year will mark a return to profit, irrespective of the Malaysian contract, he added.
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