Page 23 - ELITE PLUS MAGAZINE VOL4

How have your parents inspired you?They’ve been my role models. My mother was a big influence in instilling passion for publishing. She started her own company 22 years ago. She was a leftist, part of the student activist movement in the ’70s. She came back to the commercial, capitalist world, hoping to be one of the drivers to change society and the quality of life. She really believed that education is the key. Her passion radiates to me and to my team. We all want to have a fulfilling life, so with that ideal of wanting to make change, we can make a difference through our books. It motivates us to do better and not stand still. My mother didn’t graduate from university but she could start a successful business because she always asks questions and is eager to learn. One of our slogans is “lifelong reading and learning”.Howdoyoukeepupina competitive market?We’re in an ever-changing world and we strive to learn and survive. Nanmeebooks has repositioned itself from just a publisher to become a learning service provider. Five years ago we opened a new company called Namneebooks Innovation Institute. This institute sells learning services, meaning schools hire us to train their teachers and organize science camps and reading camps. We operate our own science centre, which we collaborate on with Phänomenta from Germany, and we’ve also worked with a Japanese company called Gakken to develop a curriculum to help primary school teachers who did not graduate in science to teach science in a fun, hands-on way. We sell lesson plans, CDs, teaching materials and equipment to do group experiments. Three years ago we signed with anEnglish company, Maths-Whizz, to sell an online tutorial for primary school students to do maths according to their maths age. In a classroom environment with 30 to 40 students, pupils have a different maths levels and there’s a big gap in between. One teacher cannot fill the gap in only five periods a week. We offer the tools for teachers to do that.How do you differentiate yourself from other companies in the field?We’re the first publisher that has diversified this way. With the Nanmeebooks Innovation Institute we use books as inspiration but also sell curricula, learning camps and training. All this gives us a niche in the market. We believe in hands-on learning, co-construction, working together, meta-cognition and for the kids to know what they’re learning and not just reading for reading’s sake.Elite+ 21