Highlands firm celebrates three award nominations in one month

19/10/2022
Jennifer MacKenzie (Co-founder of The TEFL Org)

A TEACHING English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) firm has been nominated for three awards in one month following impressive growth in 2022.

The TEFL Org has been nominated for two Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI)’s Highlands & Islands Business Excellence Awards in both the Customer Service and International Business categories, as well as an award for Outstanding Business at the Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards.

The firm, which was founded during the middle of the 2008 financial crisis in a garden shed, has experienced significant growth since the global pandemic with sales growing by 386% in the past three years, increasing the proportion of overseas sales from 16% to 49%.

The TEFL Org surpassed 5,000 website reviews and have garnered an average score of 4.5/5, while users coming to the website have increased by 90% since 2018 to 1.3m in the last year.

The company’s Managing Director, Andy Healy, believes the three nominations are welcome recognition for the immense work undertaken by the firm following the pandemic.

He said: “As a small business operating in a heavily competed space, we have to challenge the status quo and be bold in our approach to stay ahead.” 

“Helping thousands of students every year to teach English around the world is a huge responsibility and we have cultivated a company mindset which values quality above all. That’s helped us become one of the largest providers of TEFL courses in the world and the most accredited in the UK.

“We are deeply passionate about the simple brilliance of TEFL and the life opportunities it gives people. From humble beginnings we’ve grown significantly but kept our core values solid, treasure our Scottish roots and love that we can positively impact our growing community of both customers and partners.

“The TEFL Org has big goals and ambitious plans to grow further and be a leading example in developing a business that values people and the planet. Our three award nominations in one bumper month spotlights out innovation and business acumen.”

The TEFL Org also won its first Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade for outstanding short-term growth in overseas sales earlier this year.

The SCDI’s Highlands & Islands Business Excellence Awards, which recognise the Highland businesses and organisations that have made a real contribution to the economy, will take place in November at the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness as it returns to an in-person event.

Following a two-year hiatus, the 10th annual Women’s Enterprise Scotland Awards which celebrate women-led businesses returns to voco Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow this month. 

The TEFL Org, which was founded in 2008 by experienced EFL teachers Jennifer MacKenzie and Joe Hallwood, offers a range of in person and online TEFL courses, providing internationally recognised qualifications to more than 150,000 teachers who have gone on to find employment across the globe.

Ranging from 20 hours to 198 hours, the flexible courses allow EFL teachers to partake in learning from the comfort of their own home or while travelling.

For more information on The TEFL org visit: https://www.tefl.org/

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