Top-grade e-learning
TITUS Learning, a rising tech titan in online education, is blazing a trail with software services for workplace training and a new branch in Dubai.
Starting six years ago with just a £10,000 loan and mentoring support from the Government-backed Start Up Loans scheme, the Bradford-based firm’s customised resources have enabled students and tutors in more than 20 countries to share lessons and homework.
It has recently expanded into the corporate sector, helping companies and certification bodies deliver broader portfolios of training, management and personal development courses with flexible, tailored platforms.
Clients range from Japanese food chain Wasabi to the National Physical Laboratory and
British Weightlifting.
Titus founders Sebastian Francis and
Mike Bennett decided to go it alone while working in the e-learn- ing sector, one of the world’s hot prospects, now valued at £146 billion and growing seven per cent a year.
“It may sound improbable for a company in west Yorkshire to be helping children in Korea, but from day one we have run the business as an international company with no boundaries in terms of time and place,” explains Francis.
“Titus came about after we saw a gap in the market to work with international schools. We expanded into further and higher education and now the corporate side.”
Titus’s chosen base tool is Moodle, the general open-source course management system that has 165 million users worldwide. Customised solutions remains its unique selling point.
“We focus on offering a specific product for every customer who has a different set of requirements,” says Francis. “We modify the theme and design to suit an organisation’s branding and tailor the training and support package they produce.
“Gaining our Certified Moodle Partnership status was a turning point, bringing us clients and driving growth. We work very closely with Moodle HQ and are providing the latest MoodleWorkplace learning too.”
In profit from year one and heading for a £3 million turnover, Titus employs 20, with more jobs to come. Growth has been 90 per cent a year.
“Our decision not to sell any part of the business has stopped us making reckless decisions,” says Bennett. “It also means we are scaling up a profitable model, rather than spending in the hope it can be monetised later.”
Clients typically sign three-year contracts, paying on a yearly basis. “This has helped flatten our cashflow, improve forecasting and made it more affordable,” says Francis.
Opening in Dubai puts Titus in a prime position to access the United Arab Emirates market and East Asia.
“Our customer base is international and the new office will help with that,” says Francis. “We have put the hours in and it’s paying off.”
‘We offer a specific product for every customer’