29th January 2016
Phenomenal Growth Irish Start-Up Bridging Global Skills Gap
Minister for Jobs Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD today (Friday) visited Irish education technology company, Shaw Academy to announce further job creation at its Dublin office. A hundred new positions are being created with support from the Department of Jobs through Enterprise Ireland. Sixty of these roles are already in post with the additional forty to be filled by summer 2016.
The Dublin based Shaw Academy which provides live online learning globally is already the largest live online skills educator on the planet teaching over 55,000 new students per month in seven different languages. Having developed a state of the art live eLearning centre at Eastpoint in Dublin, Shaw Academy also has a number of offices around the world.
With the delivery of their first live webinar just under four years ago by two Irish entrepreneurs James Egan and Adrian Murphy, Shaw Academy is 100% Irish owned and has experienced 300% growth each year since inception with just under 200 staff globally. Supported by Enterprise Ireland the Shaw Academy is planning to further dramatically expand its knowledge workforce at its Dublin office and abroad over the next two years.
Courses with the Shaw Academy cover a wide range of subjects focused on skills gaps such as digital marketing and mobile app development. There are also dedicated wellness subjects including nutrition, diet and weight management. Students who take a Shaw Academy course receive over ten hours of live learning, can interact with educators throughout these sessions and support staff during their educational programmes. This has led to the highly successful completion rate of over 63% which is well above the industry average of 8% for online learning.
Minister Bruton who received a live demonstration of an educational webinar said:.
“This is another great boost for the Northside, coming hot on the heels of other recent announcements for this area. At the heart of our jobs plan is creating a powerful engine of Irish enterprise alongside the strong multinational sector we have built up, and online education is a specific sector we have targeted. Today’s announcement that Shaw Academy, a highly innovative Irish company, expanding rapidly in export markets, is creating 100 extra jobs on the Northside is great news for the area. I wish James and Adrian and all their team every success with this project”.
“It is evident here today that Irish companies are at the forefront of breaking new ground. Shaw Academy have identified that education like so many other products and services needs to be instant, easily consumable and relevant. The strides that Shaw Academy have made in such a short time with support from Enterprise Ireland has led to this substantial job creation here today.”
Speaking at the job announcement co-founder of the Shaw Academy Adrian Murphy said, “We are delighted that the Shaw Academy continues to grow and with the support of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, through Enterprise Ireland enable us to continually increase our knowledge workforce in Dublin. The ongoing global demand for quality skills and education in a condensed interactive live format is key to our continued expansion and growth.”
Julie Sinnamon CEO of Enterprise Ireland said, “A key role of Enterprise Ireland is to support companies with international potential to scale, and this announcement by Shaw Academy will help them expand their global footprint. Shaw Academy is an example of an innovative Irish company in the growing online learning market, who are also supporting other Irish SMEs to grow though their extensive suite of online courses.”
To take a course with the Shaw Academy please visit www.shawacademy.com
ENDS
For media queries please contact john.white@shawacademy.com or 087 6678985
Press Office, D/Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation ph. 6312200 or press.office@djei.ie
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