Based on the impact business model, which aims at egalitarian forms of entrepreneurship and humanized development, the company offers inputs for the growth of the community where its units are located.
With its strong growth, in 2021, the company also expanded its business to the franchise model
In a globalized and digital world like the one we have today, English, adopted as a universal language, demonstrates a strong network effect. That is, the more people use it, the more useful it becomes. But, how to have access to complementary language education, with quality and low cost, within a context of challenges that the public power, by itself, does not have the capacity to solve?
Gustavo Fuga, founder and CEO of 4YOU2
It was from this need that the school was born. 4YOU2 LANGUAGES, a social impact startup focused on teaching English, which has as one of its pillars the idea that everyone deserves and should have access to quality English at an affordable cost. “4YOU2 started when I was 18 years old and I came to São Paulo to study Economics at the University of São Paulo (USP). At that moment, I realized that I was one of the few students from humble origins, without knowledge of the English language, and that this could become a barrier to achieving my goals”, says Gustavo Fuga, founder and CEO of 4YOU2.
At the time, the young student and future entrepreneur lived in a dormitory and hosted some foreigners of different nationalities. “Gradually, I acquired knowledge and fluency in the language by living with these people. It was from this experience that I had the idea of creating a school that could bring foreigners to teach in Brazil to a population that did not have access to quality complementary education and that was consistent with their economic reality”, comments the businessman.
The first incursion was in an NGO, in the Capão Redondo region, south of São Paulo. The entrepreneur identified an empty space in the place where they worked and proposed to take the teachers to start the first class of the English school. For people who live in less favored regions, studying a language can seem like a distant and inaccessible reality. It is precisely for this audience that 4YOU2 has focused its methodology of complementary teaching of the English language, which has established itself as a great differential of the school.
Social impact businesses have gained increasing relevance and are an excellent alternative to promote significant changes in society, because they intentionally offer scalable solutions to social problems for the low-income population. This is how the 4YOU2 model is based: to promote the universalization of complementary education in the English language.
foreign teachers
The didactics applied at 4YOU2 IDIOMAS is constructivism, which understands that the student must have a central role in the learning process and, in this way, they are encouraged to interact with each other and are encouraged to have their own experiences. Within the educational activity, the exercises are done in the 4YOU2 Study app, while the face-to-face classes are totally focused on conversation, which makes learning much more dynamic.
All professors are 100% foreigners at 4YOU2 and most of them are graduates or are studying for a Master's degree. To make integration possible, the startup created a structure to offer exchanges to teachers. The experience can last from 6 months to 2 years. Gustavo says that he offers the exchange and does not charge for it, on the contrary, he pays for the person who chooses to come to the country for this experience, which provides more knowledge for personal and professional life.
On the other hand, students in Brazil also have an exchange experience, only in the reverse format. Living with foreign teachers makes it possible to exchange cultural and behavioral information. This interaction promotes improvements in fluency and vocabulary expansion, not to mention that the learning process becomes more fluid.
Business model
It is in the midst of a scenario of rising cost of living, discussions about ESG and demands caused by the pandemic, that 4YOU2's business model has been consolidating because, more than English classes, the company has been offering people the opportunity to recognize its potential for transformation and social impact generation.
4YOU2's headquarters are located in the Capão Redondo region, south of the city of São Paulo, and through our teaching methodology and services provided, we have offered inputs, and with the right to direct participation, in the growth of the local community, in addition to collaborating with sustainability as we do not adopt any printed teaching material”, explains Gustavo Fuga. “We want to deliver what a basic education does not deliver. In other words, language skills to enhance the sociocultural development of young people and adolescents, enabling them to become more successful people in today's world”, he adds.
With its strong growth in 2021, the company expanded its business to the franchise model, currently counting on eight franchisees in the national territory and 10 of its own units throughout the capital of São Paulo.
“With the franchise model, we will be able to take 4You2 to other locations in the country and promote more knowledge to the population of that region. On the other hand, we have the opportunity to disseminate our commitment to positive social and environmental transformation, as our methodology adopts blended learning, which combines online and offline aspects to obtain the best possible result among students. This makes it possible to considerably reduce costs, both for the company and for the students”, reveals the CEO.
Today, the goal outlined in the school's expansion plan is to reach 35 new franchisees by the end of 2022, with a base of 3,000 new students. Its business model also includes the areas of B2B (courses for companies) and B2C (courses for individual students).
About 4YOU2: Founded in 2012 by Gustavo Fuga, 4YOU2 is a social impact startup focused on English language teaching that seeks to transform and democratize language teaching in Brazil, offering high quality English courses with foreign teachers at an affordable price. for the population. Over the past 10 years, the school has helped its students gain language skills, cultural understanding and confidence to open up a world full of new opportunities and enriching experiences. As a young and vibrant enterprise, 4YOU2 believes in the power of communication and social inclusion to drive human progress through its teaching methodology. In didactics, the exercises are done in the 4YOU2 Study application, while the face-to-face classes are totally focused on conversation, which makes learning much more dynamic. More than English classes, both teachers and students participate in a cultural exchange experience. In 2021, the company also expanded its business to the franchise model, currently counting on eight franchisees in the national territory and 10 of its own units throughout the capital of São Paulo.
EN 
PT 
