1st July 2007
ALISON
Mike Feerick CEO of ALISON, one of the most ambitious and innovative internet-based start-ups in Ireland, passionately believes that, “free universal education is the solution to many of the world's social problems”. It’s a belief that drove Feerick to launch ALISON, which stands for Advance Learning Interactive Systems Online, in April of this year.
ALISON is a free learning portal for interactive multimedia certification-based basic skills, including such subjects such as ICT, IT desktop skills, internet usage, typing, financial literacy, Health & Safety and many more subjects. Learning for popular certifications such as ECDL and E-Citizen are provided free-of-charge to the public. All a prospective learner needs to do is to register with the site (www.alison.com) and start learning.
Already the entrepreneur’s brainchild has proved that ALISON fulfills a need in the learning sector, by attracting over 100,000 visitors and registered learners from 171 countries to its service. In other words in a few short months ALISON has become one of the world’s busiest learning sites.
“We have the means today of making high quality interactive multimedia education available to anyone, anywhere. With this in mind, we began to think of business models that would make it possible to provide learning services free of charge via the web - and that's how we came up with ALISON”, explained Feerick.
He added, “The advent of advertising supported services, an important revenue stream for ALISON, has been made possible by the increasing size and sophistication of the online advertising market led by the likes of Google and Yahoo.
Our model is unique and if adopted worldwide, will throw the traditional model of education, an industry of $1.4 trillion worldwide on its head. We have received phenomenal support from countries where quality education is hard to access. However, it is not just the undeveloped world that is
interested in what ALISON can provide. We are making workplace skills readily available to a very large audience. Of particular interest is the number of small businesses that do not provide basic training for staff and for which ALISON provides a perfect solution”.
With a BBS from the University of Limerick and an MBA from Harvard to his credit, Feerick spotted this particular opportunity thanks to his direct experience of having worked in the international market for ICT skills training for the past eight years. “I have also had exposure in the past to philanthropy in the education sector and that's why this project gets me so excited. Education can change peoples’ lives and there are not many jobs or businesses that allow you to deliver that opportunity, but launching ALISON has allowed our team to do just that”, said Feerick.
Feerick and his team have established their business in the secure environment of Galway Technology Centre (GTC), which has a strong track record as an incubation centre. ALISON’s parent company, Advance Learning, founded by Feerick, was established at GTC in 2001, employing three people. The company currently employs 20 staff and is a l eading provider of multimedia interactive courseware and implementation consultancy.
Feerick acknowledged that one of the most helpful aspects of having a base at GTC is, “the fact that we have been able to grow in size without having to move our location, albeit we have moved units within the complex as we have grown.
Asked what the future holds for ALISON, Feerick confidently predicted, “domination of the free learning sector online, becoming the world's largest learning site, with the deliverable of providing quality interactive multimedia education for all, anywhere, anytime for any certifiable subject”.
Given its impressive achievements in its first three months – perhaps world domination is realizable goal for this ambitious company.
