After several years as an e-learning specialist in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Damian Hehir found himself exasperated with much of the teaching material available in the region.
“Much of the so-called e-learning content available in the Middle East is off-the-shelf content brought in from outside. It tends not to be localised to the region, and much of it isn’t available in Arabic,” he says.
“A lot of people think of e-learning as just uploading a PDF or a powerpoint presentation on to a website, perhaps with a quick online test. A lot of content is terribly designed, looking like something out of the 1980s.”
With several years of experience as an instructor for the Australian Defence Force, followed by 12 years as a military instructor in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Mr Hehir started to think he could do better, offering more customised and engaging resources for local businesses.
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His vision took on new momentum in 2013, when he met Jason Satterly, another former military instructor, who had reached similar conclusions about the state of the e-learning space. The pair quickly decided to go into business together.
That same year, they officially launched Capytech, a provider of custom e-learning content and learning management systems aimed at businesses in the UAE and the GCC, going full time with the company in 2014.
“We go into corporate environments and help companies develop the training services they may already be providing and help them build custom e-learning content,” says Mr Hehir.
“The training philosophies that Jason and I learnt within the military and what we know about e-learning can be applied pretty much across any industry. We’re pretty content agnostic and have worked with companies ranging from SMEs to larger pharmaceuticals and oil and gas companies.
“E-learning isn’t a panacea for everyone’s needs but you can see real benefits when you offer a blended learning experience, when you mix online e-learning components with face-to-face training.”
Mr Hehir cites a recent example of working with a major pharmaceuticals company as what proper e-learning systems can achieve.
“The way they’d been doing it [their training] was quite expensive because they have to fly staff to a central location, as well as flying in the training experts. Then they found that as the training filtered down throughout the organisation it was getting diluted.”
Capytech worked with the company to develop a number of e-learning modules as part of the course material, which was subsequently rolled out to employees in around nine countries across the Middle East.
“It proved to be a very cost-effective way for them to give this training remotely to a lot of employees, and the feedback we’ve got has been very positive,” says Mr Hehir. Capytech’s order book has been growing steadily, even as it sometimes faces an uphill battle to convince clients of the benefits of e-learning.
“One of our struggles has been to show what the return on investment for proper e-learning is, that an investment over the long run will save you money,” he says.
“We believe in a multi-sensory approach to e-learning when you’re using videos, audio, narration, along with interactive elements that make it more engaging, meaning that people are more likely to pay attention and retain the information.”
Mr Hehir and Mr Satterly funded Capytech entirely from their own personal savings. “I’m of the view that with a new business you should try and be profitable more or less from day one … and let the business grow organically.”
As business picked up, the company has taken on an additional six designers. Although Capytech is registered in Fujairah’s Creative City free zone, all of the company’s employees work remotely.
Mr Hehir and Mr Satterly plan to focus on e-learning aimed at Emiratis, delivered via smartphones, “using appropriate avatars and crafted Arabic content”, he says.
“It’ll be mobile-first content … with a gamification element that brings in a bit of competition that helps people engage.”
jeverington@thenational.ae
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