BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION
Re.Sky_Round 2_Fieldwork evidence
RE’SKY EDUTRAVEL BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS
Re.Sky Edutravel Company (“Re.Sky”) was established in 2015 with the motto “United Education to the Better Society“. Our mission is to supply “international connections in the field of education, providing opportunities for life experience, developing social skills and a world view for students from an early age to adulthood”.
When conducting research on summer camp programs on the market, we obtained results from over 100 survey responses as follows:[1]
- Eighty-two percent (82%) of parents want their children to attend offline summer camps, while eighteen percent (18%) prefer online summer camps.
- Forty-eight percent (48%) of parents want their children to participate in summer camps organized abroad, while fifty-two percent (52%) prefer domestic summer camps.
- The expected cost range for parents for domestic summer camps is 5-7 million VND, while for international summer camps it is 15-30 million VND.
The summer camps that parents desire their children to experience should meet the following criteria:
- Firstly, engage in many teamwork activities (74%)
- Secondly, learning through discovery activities (68%)
- Thirdly, gain understanding about local culture (58%)
- Fourthly, enriching and progressive summer camp programs with no repetition (21.7%)
- Fiffly, reasonable cost (39.1%)
- Sixthly, children develop many skills after the summer camp (40%)
- Seventhly, use public transportation at the location to explore local culture (82%)
- Eightly, parents can contact their children within a fixed schedule (76%)
- Lastly, information about children’s activities at the summer camp is continuously updated via group chats on Zalo, WhatsApp, Facebook (68%)
Re.Sky’s summer camps fulfill all of these criteria. The characteristics of Re.Sky’s summer camps are:
- Summer camp information is designed to be eye-catching and easily accessible via Facebook and Zalo. The camp activity content is provided clearly and transparently about costs right in the enrollment posters.
- The experiential program is built using a project-based approach, so students develop many skills and thinking methods such as: independent skills, teamwork skills, problem-solving skills.
Sky directly partners with educational experts in different countries to build the summer camp programs, without going through intermediaries. This allows them to proactively build programs according to Re.Sky’s strategic direction and provide services at very reasonable costs with high competitiveness in the market. Specifically:
- For the same 1-week duration in Singapore, market costs range from thirty five and nine hundred million dong to forty five and nine hundred million dong (35.9 to 49.9 million VND), but Re.Sky’s camps cost only twenty five million dong to twenty eight million dong (25-28 million VND).
- For 2-week camps in the Philippines, market costs are around thirty five and five hundred million dong (32.5 million VND), but Re.Sky’s camps are only twenty seven million dong (27 million VND).[2]
- Information about the summer camp activities is frequently and continuously updated hourly, helping parents to experience the accompany their children to Singapore.
With the values that Re.Sky brings to students through the summer camps, Re.Sky has received high feedback and evaluations from parents. Customer satisfaction is shown through numbers drawn from the survey we did as follows: Out of 100 parents participating the survey, thirteen point eight percent (13.8%) rated 8 points, twenty seven point six percent (27.6%) rated 9 points, and fifty eight point six percent (58.6%) rated 10 points. In reality, over 2 years of operating summer camps, Re.Sky has organized 3 Singapore camps and 1 Philippines camp with 90 participating students. Of these, twenty percent (20%) of students participated in two consecutive summer camps, following Re.Sky’s guidance pathway:
- Sky’s summer camp programs are designed with a developmental pathway over the years for students, specifically:
+) For those experiencing an international summer camp for the first time, they will be guided to attend a 1-week camp in Singapore – a developed country close to Vietnam with safe and convenient transportation.
+) Students attending their second summer camp will be guided towards a 2-week camp in the Philippines to focus on learning English and enhancing foreign language skills as a second language.
+) After students have gained impressions and a desire to study abroad through a few summer camps, and their English skills have been honed, Re.Sky will continue to guide these students to expand their world view through summer camps organized in other countries: Hong Kong, Japan… and eventually guide them towards studying abroad in countries like Japan, Germany, Singapore…
To implement the development plan as above, the business model structure of Re.Sky is displayed as follow:
In this regard, Re.Sky’s strength lies in its partnerships and collaborations with educational experts in various countries: Singapore, Indonesia, Italy, Hong Kong, Australia, Japan….[1] By directly partnering with experts and organizations in these countries, Re.Sky is able to design and deliver high-quality international summer camp programs that expand students’ global perspectives and skillsets. Having these strong international connections allows them to create immersive cultural experiences, specialized curricula, and pathways for students to potentially pursue further studies abroad aligned with Re.Sky’s strategic vision. The global network of partners is a key asset that differentiates their summer camp offerings.
Currently, Re.Sky is not a social enterprise but rather an enterprise creating social impact. However, with the values that Re.Sky brings to students through experiential summer camps and the positive feedback from parents, Re.Sky hopes to have more educational connections to build a better social environment. This aligns with UNESCO’s sustainable development goal for education: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all“. Therefore, Re.Sky has a development strategy to raise funds from educational funds in order to provide international summer camp scholarships for outstanding students who may not have the means to participate.
The two charitable funds that Re.Sky wishes to seek sponsorships from are:
Le Mong Dao Education Support Fund, established in 2008 according to the wishes of the late Professor Le Mong Dao. Since its operation, the Fund has directly awarded thousands of “Raise Your Dream” scholarships, supporting generations of poor but excellent students nationwide.
KKR’s Education Investment Fund. KKR is a global U.S. investment firm, one of the world’s largest private equity funds with 33 global offices and estimated total assets of around four hundred and seventy billion US dollar ($470 billion dollar). Currently, KKR has invested over one billion and five hundred million US dollar ($1.5 billion dollar) in Vietnam, with education being a sector which KKR is very interested in. In education, KKR has invested in the EQuest Education Group to develop general education, colleges/universities, and educational technology, with the goal of building a sustainable, quality and humane educational future through commitments to environment, social and governance (ESG).
The operating goals of these charitable funds align very well with the objectives and mission that Re.Sky is pursuing.
Re.Sky firmly believes that with Re.Sky’s operating model, there will be more opportunities to succeed in the future and bring more value to the cause of sustainable education development.