The story of Kostas Sylligardos is one of travel, ambition and discovery of the business world.
All that until he was finally able to find his own personal “promised land” in Vietnam, a country that is currently undergoing tremendous growth in the educational sector.
This lead him to create a prototype centre for teaching foreign languages called Global Citizen English Academy.
“Knowledge and cultural enrichment have always fascinated me,” he told Neos Kosmos.
“To be able to share your own culture with different civilisations is something that I believe makes you smarter, stronger and generally more agile.”
Mr Sylligardos points to the reasons that lead to his decision to create the learning centre and the process required for his dream to become reality.
“Since coming to Vietnam I had made the decision to create something of my own. But my profession (electrician/mechanic) needed very large funds in order to be able to start up a construction/research company that would be able to stay competitive against the larger corporations in the refinery field, so it was quickly turned down.”
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A chance meeting with a businessperson from the education sector and a natural love for communication with young people lead to a different pathway for Mr Sylligardos.
“I immediately begin a course in order to get my TESOL (Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages) professor’s certificate. After that, I worked for 25 days as a professor where, to my surprise, I found that rather than feeling tired, children’s love filled me with energy. And this lead me to develop the Global Citizen English Academy.”
The school fits 900 students, who benefit from digital tools to make language acquisition easier.
The professors at the school also take full advantage of the opportunities that technology gives to them, using digital tools to make lessons easier for the younger classes.
Giving us a mental image of the conditions in the country, Mr Sylligardos mentions that knowledge of the English language has become a necessary tool for the people of Vietnam, especially in the last few years as more people give up rural life in search of a higher standard of living in urban centres.
“As Vietnam opened its borders to international investments, more and more companies are searching for employees who speak good English. Many people from rural areas are moving towards the cities to live a better life and support their families who are still in the provinces. English is the number one tool in order for them to find a well-paying position in one of the foreign companies. This fact alone creates a huge market for teaching English in Vietnam,” Mr Sylligardos said.
“The nation is in deep need of professors who can teach both children and adults, with one third of the population living under the poverty line and English being a huge advantage in order to avoid those circumstances.”
When comparing the educational system of Vietnam to that of Greece, the creator of the Global Citizen English Academy points out that learning a foreign language starts from a much earlier age in order to provide young students with the necessary tools to survive in the business world as soon as possible.
Speaking about how things worked out for him before reaching Vietnam, he points to the Greek financial crisis as a motivating factor to establish himself abroad.
“My story begins in 2010. Up until then I was working at my father’s company as a supervisor mechanic. Due to the crisis I made the decision to leave that company and try my luck elsewhere, so I start working for a contractor at the Elefsina oil refineries. After two years at that company, I left the country and began to work for large American and Italian corporations as chief of development. I learnt Italian and Spanish and was given the opportunity to live in many different countries, such as Bulgaria, Mexico and Belgium. My last stop was Vietnam, where I bore witness to the rapid growth.”
The next step for Mr Sylligardos and his associates is to create a second learning centre in Ho Chi Minh City, where students will also have the chance to learn Greek.
Even though, he understands that at this stage there’s not much demand for it, he believes that young students will show interest once given the opportunity.
Mr Sylligardos states that he already has developed a marketing plan to make it seem more attractive. And based on all he has achieved in the country, the first results should soon become obvious!