Importance of language in a global business world

Today, in a globalized business environment where business enterprises strive to enter international markets, business leaders and employees end up communicating with partners, vendors and customers from different parts of the world. This certainly leads to challenges in understanding a foreign language or communicating to someone who knows only one language native to their country. In order to be relevant and keep the business thriving in the international markets, many companies feel the need to train their employee for different languages.

Marina Tognetti and mYngle – Journey of a technology venture that disrupts the way multi-language training needs are met today

In this magazine recognizing the 10 Most Influential Women Entrepreneurs in 2019, we are talking about Marina Tognetti who founded mYngle, a global online language learning school, amongst the first players to deliver professional one-on-one language tutoring of all languages over the net, and now one of the leaders in its segment.

Marina developed the passion for entrepreneurship later on in her career, after having worked for successful global brands such as Procter & Gamble, Philips, Sara Lee, The Boston Consulting Group and eBay.  She got an MBA from INSEAD.  It was while working as a consultant on a project on internet strategy that she first saw the potential of the internet to disrupt entire industries and change forever the way we buy/sell/interact. That was the driver to start an innovative company like mYngle. Marina says she knew that she could make a real difference, putting in practice all that she had learned in her career.

A productive day in the life of an entrepreneur

Life as an entrepreneur means that days are varied and there is no ‘standard’ day. She has to play two roles, one internal and one external.  Internally she is responsible for setting and keeping long term direction, align it with short term actions, motivate her team, maintain an innovative and entrepreneurial culture. Externally she is responsible for the finances and relationship with investors, bank, and other external stakeholders, such as strategic partnerships and press. Also, it is in her nature as entrepreneur to always seek new opportunities, areas of development, innovations to stay ahead of the curve.

Every beginning is a new challenge, every challenge is an opportunity

Creating a new business from scratch is always challenging, building a tech start-up disrupting an industry was exponentially more challenging (especially 10 years ago, when it was started). When asked about challenges Marina says “Challenges were not at the beginning, but when we had to ‘pivot’ from the initial business model to a completely different one, which is the mYngle of now.”

mYngle was launched as a marketplace, something she knew well from her previous e-Bay experience. Funding, lots of awards, PR, a motivated team, all that was not enough, something in the business model was not functioning as it was expected. Their customers were listened to, and a new direction was given, from an open marketplace to a quality global online school. That brought mYngle to a different place, where companies more than consumers were interested in the service mYngle was now offering. The second ‘pivot’ was from B2C to B2B. This is the mYngle that we see now. Throughout that process, there were also all sorts of resistances the team of mYngle had to bypass, especially those from the stereotypes that consumers had in their minds about education.

Key features about leadership

Marina strongly believes that the key to success is not constantly comparing with competitors but aligning with what customers want.  Constant focus on customers and their needs is one of the pillars and key strengths. This is particularly important when serving an industry like online education which is in a transitional or evolutionary phase, where the main challenge is not competition but the unawareness or inexperience of customers. Education was (and in large part still is) operating in the old traditional way, offering learners what is available, not what they need. But “One size does not fit all.” By understanding the customer and diversifying the offer in terms of teacher- content- frequency, mYngle can match each specific need.

Key driver to be a successful entrepreneur

In an era of fast and drastic changes- technology, volatility of the market, talent development, means that a successful entrepreneur must be able not only to adapt but also to ride the positive trends. That is the DNA of a successful entrepreneur: to keep a strong vision, to set the direction, to anticipate and navigate challenges. This also means being able to ‘Think out of the box’’, to adapt and change in order to keep the business successful. Not being afraid of taking (calculated) risks, as sometimes unforeseen opportunities come from taking risks. Making the resolution to model the vision on actions, taking decisions that can have serious consequences.

Services and current market scenario

mYngle offers customized language training programs through video conferencing in 45 different languages anytime, anywhere. Lessons are one-on-one, with highly qualified native teachers, and related to the learner’s job-position. Virtual classrooms enable learners to take classes 24/7. mYngle is the solution for busy professionals who need language training to be successful in their international business, and for companies that want great learning results and a transparent and controllable learning process to make their investment a success.

Bringing a change in the traditional industry of education

mYngle has been supporting the disruption of one of the most traditional industries- that of education- bringing it from offline to online, making it available to a broader public and changing the relationship teachers/learners in the educational process. Bringing a change was not easy, but that made it more interesting. The most interesting part is also the reason why mYngle was started. Marina says:” Looking ahead, seeing what are the possibilities that have not been exploited yet, that’s the best part of being an (innovative) entrepreneur!”

Vision and mission of the company

The mission of mYngle is to bring high quality language education to learners anywhere in the world. In order to achieve that, constant focus on customers and their needs has always been one of the pillars. This is also reflected in the internal evaluation systems and how they assess their job. Constantly monitoring of users’ reactions and trying to adjust accordingly, using adapted versions of NPS (Net Promoter Score), which defines that only excellence counts. This online school never compromised on quality- of teachers, content, tools-, and this brought mYngle to be recognized in the industry as a quality provider with very satisfied customers. The best recognition always comes from customers. The rating by learners of the lessons is 4.9/5.0. The results speak for themselves!

Accomplishments

mYngle was pioneering, amongst the first to provide one-to-one teaching of many languages over the internet. These days online education is recognized and valued, no more considered of any lesser quality than offline, with the extra advantages of flexibility and personalization. For these reasons, since its beginning, mYngle has won numerous awards as recognition for its contribution to online education.
Immediately at start (2008):

• Accenture Innovation Award,
• European Ventures Summit Award
• Benelux Venture Summit Award

Marina Tognetti received numerous awards as founder and CEO of mYngle, such as:

• 50 most inspiring women tech leaders in Europe
• 50 most inspiring women in Dutch technology sector
• Iconic Women Creating a Better World for All and many others.

Customer base and work environment @ mYngle

mYngle nurtures an obsession for customers’ satisfaction, and this is also one of its key strengths. Providing improved services, listening to users’ feedback and improving accordingly, as well as leveraging new technologies, all this is an added advantage. Data analysis and machine learning help to develop new products better, they help to understand clients and try to anticipate possible issues better, also help sales department with forecasting, funnel analysis and staff coaching. Constant improvement also requires to develop a culture of experimentation and to allow mistakes. Where people are not constantly afraid of consequences. mYngle creates people who think and not only do ‘’jobs’’.  mYngle staff are the people who always search for new ways to keep customers happy, and, in doing so, do not keep the status quo, but push themselves beyond their comfort zone.