Colombian Tutor Doctor franchisee launches UK office

With his new business in the UK, Alejandro Agudelo will provide much-needed support for families in Waterlooville and Petersfield

Tutor Doctor’s February franchisee training class welcomed an individual who is no stranger to the franchise model. Alejandro Agudelo opened an office of the tutoring franchise back home in Colombia, before making the decision to do the same over 5,000 miles away in the UK. Covering north Portsmouth, Alejandro will take full advantage of the attention that extra-curricular activity has experienced since the pandemic shook the globe. 

In 2018, Alejandro was approached by franchise consultants MatchPoint, who assessed his existing skillset to find the best franchise fit for him. With experience in social programmes and public policy within the education arena and lecturing from his time at a university in Venezuela, Tutor Doctor presented itself as an obvious result.

“It was the perfect match,” said Alejandro. “I understood the importance of education, and I simply wanted to put that into practice. But there were also other important factors, including the flexibility, the global network of franchisees and brand presence, that influenced my decision. I launched my Tutor Doctor business in Barranquilla in 2018.

“Having tested the business in South America, where the education system and economy vary enormously from the UK, whilst growing a good business, I decided to transfer my business and family to a place where I’d been eager to settle for some years.”

With his new business in the UK, Alejandro will provide much-needed support for families in Waterlooville and Petersfield. With yet another return to school promising to be a challenge for many children, parents and guardians turn to providers just like Alejandro for help. Logging onto this virtual training, with three other UK franchisees, was an eye-opener.

“As the education system is so different, the training from Tutor Doctor was tailored to understand the differences. Of course, I already knew about the operations side of the business, but one major change was in how we manage client relationships. In Colombia, due to the way the system worked, my service mainly attracted adults, but here Tutor Doctor’s main focus is on tutoring children and therefore starting the relationship with their parents,” he explained.

The new franchisee training was completed just a few days after the latest ONS survey revealed that 50 per cent of adults say home-schooling is negatively affecting their wellbeing. Whilst Tutor Doctor offers crucial learning support for students, it also acts as a way to take the pressure off parents as they continue to work from home.

“I’m looking forward to helping those at a time of great difficulty. Although we have a timeline out of the restrictions, there’s no denying that children have felt the brunt of the impact through school closures. Getting back to school is tough, even more so when it’s following a second period of absence from the classroom. I’m eager to help bridge the gap, and I cannot wait to start working with local clients – I’ve already got seven families lined up!” he said.

Alejandro becomes the sixth franchisee to launch their Tutor Doctor business in 2021 so far. And with the government still deciding how to claw back children’s learning loss over the last 12 months, Tutor Doctor is well placed to step in with solutions for their communities.