Beijing-based VIPKid is giving American teachers an income boost from halfway around the world. Under cofounder and CEO Cindy Mi, the online learning company contracts with more than 30,000 North American instructors and matches them with some 200,000 primarily Chinese pupils for one-on-one video sessions in English—along with a growing stable of other subjects. Educators rave on Facebook and YouTube about the ability to teach classes from anywhere (and to typically make about $20 an hour, usually in the time before or after school). Parents seem to share their enthusiasm: The platform has a 95% student-retention rate. In 2017, VIPKid’s 25-minute-long classes brought in $760 million in revenue—up from $300 million the previous year. Below, Mi shares her vision for the future of education.
Fast Company: What is it about China that made you see an opportunity for VIPKid’s services?
Cindy Mi: Parents in China spend $15 billion a year on children’s English-language learning. When you look at other subjects, like math, the market is four times as big. After-school tutoring accounts for 15% of our household income [in China]. It’s tiger moms and dragon dads; we have parents in Asia who think that education is a game changer. The second reason is: There are 18 million new babies born in China every year. And there are only 27,000 qualified English teachers from North America residing here. In Beijing alone, we have over a million elementary school kids—27,000 [teachers] are not even enough for the city!
FC: How do you optimize students’ learning experiences online?
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