Keeping a step ahead of competition
By Tina Arceo-Dumlao

If there is one trait that describes Rossana L. Llenado, founder of AHEAD Learning Systems Inc., it is that she likes making grand plans, and she works hard at making sure that they come true.

Llenado, for instance, planned as early as her college days at the University of the Philippines in Los Baños that she would have her own business by the time she was 26.

That plan was fulfilled a year earlier, when she started offering tutorial services in her house in Barrio Kapitolyo, Pasig City with just herself, a helper and three teachers, who were all cum laude graduates from UP.

She advertised the tutorial services and had 15 students when she started her review for the UP entrance test in 1995.

“I got the idea to go into the tutorial business at 18 when I was tasked to write a speech for then Senator Alberto Romulo. It was a graduation speech so I had to do some research on education,” Llenado, now 34, said in an interview.

Effective tools
In the course of her research, she realized that education was truly important and that there was surely a market out there for services that would help people to get admitted to the schools of their choice, usually top schools such as UP, Ateneo and La Salle.

“I was very much involved in service at that time in Los Baños, so I thought I could offer my services to those talented Filipinos who could go to the school of their choice, if given the right tools such as a comprehensive review or tutorial,” Llenado said.

Llenado knew that she was on the right track and the right business formula when all 15 of her first group of students passed the entrance exams in UP.

She further professionalized her operations and in 1997, she established AHEAD Tutorial and Review Canter with P200,000 in capital.

She was 29, a mother of twin boys and a newcomer to an industry already dominated by two firms.

Rough start
The following year was not exactly the best of times for business because of the Asian currency crisis that led to the downturn of the global and local economies. But the difficult times did not stop her from pursuing her expansion plans.

She remembered calling a meeting with her staff at that time to discuss how they could cut costs and weather the crisis. They considered keeping their rates and cutting down on the number of sessions.

“We ended up adding one more session to our curriculum because we realized that we were in the service business and quality should always be the priority,” Llenado said.

AHEAD has now become one of the leaders in the tutorial and review course industry based on the performance of its students in college entrance examinations.

Since 1999, AHEAD has been registering the highest percentage of reviewees passing the admission tests at UP, Ateneo and La Salle.

“I am very happy in this business because I help two groups at the same time. I help teachers and I help students. I believe that by helping them I also help the country,” Llenado said.

Helping the society
Her business was also buoyed by the growth in the tutorial industry in general, as parents look for avenues to help their children excel.

Ahead strives to stay one step ahead of competition by maintaining a pool of highly competent lecturers and tutors, composed primarily of honor graduates and undergraduates from the country’s top schools.

Expansion
AHEAD has five branches in Metro Manila, with two located in shopping malls.

It is the official review center of the De La Salle Greenhills, Lourdes School of Mandaluyong, Jubilee Christian Academy and St. Mary of the Woods. The Ateneo Parents Council has also tapped its services.

Even the Philippine Senate has commissioned AHEAD to prepare its employees for the civil service examination.

Llenado said that all these achievements were made possible by the group’s desire to achieve excellence, and this translated in the excellent performance of the students.