‘We want to have the best database of all the educational offerings in the country’: Micole

After arriving in Colombia about a month ago, the Spanish platform Micole, which contributes to the search for schools in the country, has great expectations in the local market, as a result of its potential and the receptivity they have achieved.

(Read: They launch a study campaign for Colombians in New Zealand: everything you need to know)

This is stated by Ignacio Vallejo, CEO and founder of the company, who explained that The model he developed arose from the need as a parent to find a school for his children.and detailed the progress of the deployment in the country, where it already has a total of 10,000 users.

How does Micole work?

Micole was born from my need as a father to look for a school when I had to do so in 2019 in Spain, just like when a user wants to search for a house or a hotel, I expected to find it on the same platform with easy-to-use filters, being able to geolocate and move around. a map, etc.

With that, the idea of ​​Micole was born, which is basically to concentrate on the same platform all the educational offer of a country to make life easier for users so that they can search, compare and contact in one click with the educational centers that interest them, since whether gardens or schools.

(See more: The challenges that women still face in closing gender gaps)

Why did you look at the Colombian market?

In the countries in which we have a presence we see many similarities in the education sector. It happened to us that, at the invitation of schools and groups that work with us in Spain and that had a presence in Mexico, they asked us to bring the model to this country.

This also began to happen to us with Colombia. We saw that a model like Micole made sense, to facilitate the search for schools and gardens in the country. That was why we started activities in Colombia. August 22 was our official launch and we are happy with the decision made, due to the great reception we have had.

(Read: These are the free workshops that Colfuturo is offering)

What expectations do you have with Colombia?

They are huge. In one month we have managed to have 10,000 users, more than 50 schools have already joined the platform and there are 3,500 published schools. We have a team that reviews the information in a hidden database daily and once it is verified we publish it so that it is accessible to all users in the country.

Schools can edit this information, that is, they themselves can manage their file completely free of charge. We have some plans that require a subscription, but schools that affiliate with us can contact the families they are looking for, With which we solve the problem they have when looking for a school.

By having all the information in a single place where they can filter, geolocate, etc., we provide a very good showcase in which we show the educational center to families and we also put them in contact so that they can visit the facilities, fall in love with it. their educational project and end up enrolling with the school of interest.

(Read more: Destino France Fair: French higher education institutions will be in Bogotá)

Does the subscription have a cost?

Yes. We have different plans, there is one that is an annual payment and another per family that has been contacted, as well as different plans between kindergartens and schools. In general it is a payment of US$650 per year made by the school.

Schools

iStock

What other services do you have?

We have another series of service lines that we have been developing, since today we work with more than 3,000 schools between Spain, Colombia, Mexico and Argentina, which are asking us for help in some areas.

For example, we do marketing, admissions, CRM and artificial intelligence training, and in the last year almost 600 schools between Spain and Mexico have gone through them. In Colombia we have just launched them, so we train them in more management or administration knowledge.

Apart from these trainings, schools began to ask us for help with marketing equipment issues and a series of services emerged, where there is potential and we are the best option to help that school.

In the case of databases, we do not sell them. We get asked every week by people who want to buy them, but we never do. We greatly protect the privacy of users who enter Micole to contact schools.

(See also: Future Trainers, Google’s tool to enhance primary education)

How does the affinity test work?

It is a test in which we ask in which area you want to look for a school, because location is one of the most relevant factors. Then, we present a price range so that the family has an idea of ​​what they are going to invest in their children’s education. Also, if they prefer a school of religious or secular inspiration, if it is a mixed school, male or female, the importance of extracurricular activities, academic results, use of technology, first language, second languages, etc. A series of questions are given that allow us to gauge what the family is looking for.

As we have a database of all the schools in the countries we are in, we make a match to give each family a completely partial short list of the schools that best fit what they are looking for, so that they can already If you want, contact them.

Are they financed from their own resources?

We had a financing round in 2022, and since then we have managed to be profitable and have not done any more rounds. This year, an educational platform called Smartick bought a part of the company.

(Read: Estrella Education goes for $5,000 million)

Schools

iStock

Do you have intentions of talking to the Colombian Ministry of Education?

We would love it. Our intention in any country we are in is always to have the best database of the entire educational offer, we do not want to limit ourselves to certain niches, but rather that everything is there and that each family looks for what is good for them, including in this case the public schools.

(Read: Is it no longer an option? The restrictions that Australia will place on foreign students)

What do you plan for next year?

We want to establish relationships with many schools and associations. Also participate in events, share the knowledge we have from these almost 5 years of the company, in Spain it has been a success story in publicizing schools, in Mexico as well and we hope that it will be the same in Colombia.

Being able to share knowledge, help schools, users and ultimately contribute our grain of sand to education in Colombia, so that it continues to progress, and that there is more accessible and more traceable information.

(See more: How chess can help address educational lag in Latin America)

What figures do you highlight?

In Colombia we have 10,000 monthly users, more or less 60% are in Bogotá, followed by Antioquia and Cauca. Those are the top 3 of the 10 users we have achieved since the official launch.

We are a platform, but we are not someone who is in the cloud and devirtualized, we have a very human company, even though we are technological. Service is the number one priority, both for families and schools. There is great support throughout this process.