Takahiko Yunokawa, President and CEO of Surara Net Co., Ltd.

EdTech-based educational projects solve social problems!

Profile

Takahiko Yunokawa
Graduated from the Faculty of Engineering Science, Osaka University.
As a business development officer at a company listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, he launched many new businesses, and in 2005 he started the "SlaLa" business within the company. In 2010, he became independent through an MBO.
The company has received awards including the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award at the Japan e-Learning Awards, the Social Issues Solution Award at the Japan Venture Awards, and the Scale-Out Award at the SDGs Business Awards.
Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market in 2017.

Surara Net provides EdTech learning materials that allow all children to enjoy learning, regardless of their academic ability, income, or location. Behind the creation of the company were the ideas and drive of its founder, President Yunokawa. He said that despite opposition from those around him, he put his inspiration into practice and ultimately created a valuable service that society needs.

During my student days, I devoted myself to part-time jobs rather than studying. I also performed in action-packed stage character shows held at amusement parks and department stores. During the week, I would practice acrobatics and fighting skills with my teammates, and on weekends we would perform on stage, so it was more like a club activity. We would come up with a new story every time and plan it while watching the audience's reaction, so I learned the joy of thinking for ourselves and moving things forward.

■Getting a job at a consulting company was rare at the time for someone with a science background

I was in the School of Engineering Science at Osaka University, so most people ended up working in the manufacturing industry. I also applied to a few companies, but one day I found a pamphlet for a consulting company at a friend's boarding house. At the time, consulting companies were rare for science majors, but I thought, "There's a job like this? It sounds interesting," and that's what led me to work at Japan LCA.

■Give shape to your ideas

I do all kinds of consulting for small and medium-sized businesses. I create personnel systems, draw up business plans, and provide managerial training. My experience there allowed me to do a wide range of things. Then, one summer day, I suddenly had the idea that "franchising is the future." I volunteered to do consulting specifically on franchise systems. There wasn't much interest from those around me, but my direction was spot on, and the following year we formed a team, and the year after that it became a section, and eventually it grew into a business division.

■An attitude of persistently proposing what you want to do

Consulting alone no longer satisfied me, so I began proposing to the then-president that I wanted to get into business. At first, he opposed the idea, saying, "If a consultant tries business and fails, it will ruin the main business, so it's taboo." Despite that, I continued writing business plans for two or three years, and one day the president called me and asked, "Do you want to try business?" Even if it doesn't work out, if you don't give up, sometimes it will be approved at some point. After that, I also took on the role of Representative Director and President of a subsidiary called Idea Link, where I was involved in launching the Kansai area headquarters of Gin no Sara and the omelet rice specialty restaurant Omu Omu.

■ On-site approach to analysis through business operations

I became involved in education after I started supporting a chain of private tutoring schools. There are many things you can't know until you actually run a school, so we opened one private tutoring school in downtown Tokyo. The marketing aspect, such as recruiting students, went well, but the only thing that didn't go well was improving the students' grades.

Some students' grades improve, but those with low academic ability continue to decline. The quality of the service varies depending on the teacher. I realized that a fundamental operational issue facing private tutoring schools is that the quality of the service they provide is not being guaranteed. So I thought I might as well create the ideal e-learning system, and proposed it within the company, which led to the birth of the current "SlaLa."

■Recognizing problems in the education business

The education business tends to focus on getting children from wealthy families into good schools. Since the selling point of cram schools is their success rate, they are reluctant to enroll children with low academic ability.

"SuraRa" covers this issue, focusing on students with low academic ability. Learning is interactive with meticulously crafted animations, so it's effective even for students who were at the bottom of their class or who got all A's. One day, I was shocked when a girl in the first year of junior high school told me, "For the first time in my life, I found studying English fun." I felt that this was more valuable to me than opening the best yakiniku restaurant in the country, so I bought the "SuraRa" business and went independent.

We became independent at the end of 2010, and in 2011, our company was in the red at first, with a loss of 7 million yen. While we were looking for funding and getting turned away, we happened to meet with the representative of a top brand in the venture capital world, who agreed with our "SlaLa" business. Without this connection, I don't think we would have been able to continue. We turned a profit in 2013, and grew to the point where we went public in 2017.

■Continue providing services that lead to solving social problems

Committed to making our content easy to understand for all children, in 2017 we released content for developmental disorders and learning disabilities. We have also established temple schools in developing countries such as Sri Lanka and Indonesia that teach exclusively through "Surara." Because cloud services reduce costs such as labor costs, we are able to provide lessons in slums for a monthly fee of around 500 to 1000 yen. Even in Japan, by introducing "Surara" to areas experiencing population decline, it has become possible to operate cram schools despite labor shortages and geographical issues. We would like to continue to advance our business with the attitude of using the power of education to solve social issues, both domestically and internationally.

■Message

I think the world will become increasingly uncertain from now on. I think we will need people who can think for themselves, create something from nothing, and find issues that others have not noticed and take concrete steps to address them. I hope people will take the initiative to try new things without being afraid of failure.

student newspaper web Interviewed on November 4, 2020 (Nao Suzuki, 4th year student at International Christian University）

Honoka Hama, 1st year student at Toyo University / Nao Suzuki, 4th year student at International Christian University