A secret tool to fix EdTech business

Maria Hakkarainen, CEO of ROBBO Finland, interviewed by ET, talks about the solution of ROBBO, that improves business performance of the whole educational network.

Maria, last interviewed, you gave us a wonderful introduction in the ROBBO educational approach and mentioned ROBBO Club as one of the products. What does it contain?

‘ROBBO Club’ is a robotics center where children come after school, on weekends or during vacation. As the product, ROBBO Club consists of four parts. Firstly, it is educational equipment — robots, 3D printers, digital laboratories, circuitry kits, robotics kits. Secondly, we provide software (however, it is rather not provided by ROBBO, but it is open-source, which means it is available for everyone for free). The third component is the methodology: lesson plans for teaching robotics, programming, circuit design, 3D prototyping, 3D printing, the Internet of things etc. And the fourth part is a know-how of running a beautiful, socially profitable business, which we develop worldwide using a franchise model.

And what makes this business profitable for a franchisee?

Well, there is a detailed answer which would occupy the whole edition of this mag. Or a brief message I could transfer to all franchisees. ROBBO has invested 10 millions EUR in developing the curriculum and some more sources to work out the business model with all the Standards of doing the business. So my advice is quite simple: follow the instructions of ROBBO and you will succeed with your ROBBO Club!

Sounds really simple! Does it mean that there are cases where your franchisees step aside?

You see, it differs from country to country. In Europe, for instance, we may see people who are rather disciplined. Our European partners may even require instructions from us in order to fulfill them flawlessly. In other countries we have to make efforts, sometimes forcing our partners to comply with our Standards and follow instructions. Some people may get offended as they strive to go their own way and get their ‘stuffed cones’, even though they may bear losses out of their actions. That’s life, alas.

And what do you think is the reason for such irrational behavior?

Well, I was thinking about the issue quite a lot and came to the conclusion that people may not have proper knowledge before they go into business. They do not have proper ‘cells’ in their minds to sort all the information written in the brand book, the business book and all our instructions and methods we give them within the franchise support.

I was trying to solve this issue and found out that Robert Kiyosaki had encountered a similar problem at one time. He wrote a number of books on how to become financially independent and he also mentioned that if a person wanted to become rich, they should do this and never do that. And it turned out that a person could read a book, but then never became rich or free, because they simply didn’t do what was written there, they did not follow the instructions.

Is Robert Kiyosaki the one who invented the Cashflow game?

That's right. It is a board game that shows people how their life strategies affect their earnings.

After playing the game, people would train their conscious and subconscious in a different way, which would result in becoming financially free and rich in real life. Based on the Cashflow game, we have created our own business simulator and we call it ‘ROBBO Club’.

It is very interesting. Could you give some examples from this game?

Imagine a ROBBO Club owner deciding to replace a professional administrator in his robotics center with his wife, who is on her maternity leave at the moment. This may affect the sales drop by 30%, a real life case. Or suppose a player decides to invest the whole ads budget in radio commercials. The money is spent, someone might have heard it but not the complete target audience, so the budget is wasted.

There are various events in the game related to the club development, promotion, sales, changing locations or hiring a team. In the beginning, a player manages one ROBBO Club, and the task is to make it profitable. Then they open a network of three clubs and go to the ‘big circle’ of the playing field, to chase the ‘big game’. The simulator reflects doing four-year-long business in four hours of play.

Any business with leads, staff, and premises can benefit greatly from playing the ROBBO Club game simulator.

We also transmit a feeling of the business model there. A player has to calculate many parameters during the game, so, virtually, they would learn these calculations by heart and begin to understand everything.

And does it really bring results?

We are seeing amazing results. People experience quantum shifts in consciousness when they activate those parts of the brain that are responsible for business. When a person participates in the game for the first time, they might have a headache, because they use certain areas of the brain for the first time in their life. It is like after a gym workout, the muscles hurt out of the new experience.

Moreover, we have recently suggested that the whole franchisees’ teams should play the game, including administrators and teachers. In many cases the staff do not have any idea of how the business works, they don't see the whole picture. They do not even know what a ‘lead’ means, for they have never heard this word before.

Definitely, in small enterprises, which ROBBO Clubs are, it is crucial that all staff have an overall understanding of what is going on in the business and what their mates do to make the company successful.

Yes, and we offer this kind of training to potential partners during the selection phase. People come to us and say, "We would like to buy a ROBBO franchise." We invite them to the game session and look how they react and behave in different situations. We evaluate them and decide whether to sell them the franchise. After the purchase, we make sure that their team and managers take this game training at least once per quarter. By the way, this training is not only for ROBBO Clubs. We also have other franchises and business owners play with us.

For example, a language school or any business based on services could get some experience from the game?

Any business that has leads, staff, and premises can benefit greatly from playing the ROBBO Club game simulator. Because it helps understand how the system works and what strategies, attitudes and energies are needed to grow the business into a larger network. This is one of the main advantages of our franchise from the partners’ perspective.

Do you charge any fee for participation in the game?

Yes, we have a charge, because it is a training that brings practical benefits. However, we have privilege conditions for our franchise partners to play for free, because it is a part of our franchise support to make their business profitable.

You can sign up to play the upcoming ROBBO CLUB business simulator game by the link