Baseline Education makes foreign studies accessible, from start to finish – CEO, Abigail Lawrence

In this exclusive interview with Abigail Lawrence, CEO of Baseline Educational Services, The News Chronicle prods into the journey of the company and the industry in general

TNC:  Thank you for sharing your time with us, we will like to know more about Baseline education, what you do, how you started and the inspiration behind it?

Abigail: Thank you so much for your time. The name of our company is Baseline Educational Services; it is a travel agency that assists students to study abroad. We work with different countries like UK, USA, Canada, Australia and so on. We assist students with their admission, visa, and accommodation. We also provide pre and post trainings for our clients?

TNC: What was the idea behind the name Baseline, is there any special event behind choosing the name baseline?

Abigail: I was thinking of so many names and baseline just came to my mind, it is about foundation, root, base and completion. A foundation that will help people from the beginning to the top, so that is how I came up with the name.

TNC: We know it is not easy to own a business in this country; Nigeria is a tough place, so how have you been able to cope all these years?

Abigail: I will say God first, then secondly it has always been about the vision, why I set up this company, which is about providing outstanding services to people. Before I entered the business there has been a lot of stories of scam and all that, but the experience is different with baseline. It is all about transparency, honesty and perfect, quality customer services.

TNC: I want to ask you about entrepreneurship, do you think everybody can be an entrepreneur considering the high unemployment rate in the country, one will hear advice like youths should stop looking for job and go learn skills; so what do you think of entrepreneurship?

Abigail: I think everybody cannot go into entrepreneurship, not everybody has the patience and skill. Although Nigerians are blessed with the ‘hustling spirit’ and hardworking mind, but it is one thing to be an entrepreneur. It requires special skills like patience, determination, communication, vision and so on.

TNC: How do people know about you, how do people find you and get in contact with your business?

Abigail: We engage in two major types of advertising: online and the physical advertising. For the online, it is basically social media like Facebook etc. then physical ad is practically face to face meetings, we go to our target audience like the school and talk to them.

TNC: Ok let us talk about the current situation of the country, the ongoing ASSU strike which affects education badly, what do you think about the situation and how has the situation affected your business, positively or negatively?

Abigail: The ASUU strike has actually made us more active, because people have gotten tired of staying at home and are now wanting to go abroad and study, parents are sending their children abroad to finish their education because of the strike that has been on for over 7 months now. Honestly the situation is bad for students, lecturers and our education system, but not bad for travel agency in general, to be honest.

TNC: We will like to know what has been your challenges so far, the growth and the industry generally.

Abigail: One of my major challenges when I started was finance, the funding was a major challenge, and this is not peculiar to us, every start-up business will face this in one way or the other.  But after sometime, when I got one, two clients, it became interesting and everything got better. The humble beginning was not that smooth, I used to have just one staff but today I have over five staff and a bigger office with eyes set on more branches. Then another challenge is the competitive nature of the industry, many people want to travel so the business is extremely competitive, getting those clients and closing a deal irrespective of the number of competitors in the field is another challenge.

TNC: Did you study abroad or in Nigeria, as one might think that this had an influence on your decision to go into this line of education consultancy.

Abigail: I studied in Nigeria at Bingham University, but I worked in a similar agency before I started mine, so that was like an eye opener, I got to know so many things about the field and travelling.

TNC: So rounding up, I would love to know… there have been complains by Nigerians about IELTS, being that English is our official language but we are still required to write the exam, so people think it is not fair, what is your objective view, do you think IELTS is necessary?

Abigail: IELTS is not necessary because English is our native/official language in Nigeria, our schools also teach English language even at pre nursery. A few countries like the UK do wave the IELTS, for instance you have a C6 in WAEC they will wave it for you. Other countries like Canada will give you unconditional offer and require you to write the IELTS when you get your visa. Many countries are now waving IELTS because it is not necessary being that our schools teach English from beginning.

 

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