Training firm Skillogy lands deal with South Africa

Jan 6 2010 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

A MANAGEMENT training firm from Northumberland has expanded its global reach by landing a £1.3m deal which will see its services used in South Africa.

Morpeth-based Skillogy, which specialises in leadership development and performance improvement programmes for managers, has won a contract with South Africa’s Resolve Group.

Skillogy’s Perform programme will be used to boost the skill levels of managers once the three-year partnership begins.

The contract follows partnership agreements with firms in China and Taiwan which the company won last year and are likely to be followed by deals in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Perform is delivered through online training and classroom tuition and encourages participants to complete an assessment process over the internet.

According to Skillogy, its programmes have proved popular in developing countries where there is growing demand for management skills. Over the next year the company expects to be operating on around £5m-a-year turnover with partners in 70 countries.

RTC North helped Skillogy and Resolve Group negotiate a revised licensing deal and achieve approval by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).

Since South Africa operates foreign exchange controls, the SARB must ratify all international trade agreements.

RTC North’s Sandra Innes said: “Skillogy’s product marries in-depth management training expertise built up over 15 years, with a well-produced e-learning solution.

“It has attracted considerable interest from training providers around the world and through the UKTI R&D Globalisation Programme we have been able to further establish them in overseas markets.”

Skillogy started life in 1994 when its founder Mike Bolam worked with managers at the Fujitsu semi-conductors plant to help boost productivity and performance.

The following year, James Noon, an academic, joined Mr Bolam to develop the concepts of performance and productivity and to research the underpinning characteristics.