READING THE MARKETS

When Joanna Jeffery came up with an idea for card games to teach children how to read she never dreamed she would be selling them to schools around the world. The specialist dyslexia teacher from Plymouth invented ‘trugs’ – ‘teach reading using games’ – a phonetic system based on four card games to make learning to read fun. The idea proved such a success she quit the classroom to launch Read Successfully and now sells throughout southeast Asia, as well as in Dubai and Europe. After signing up to UK Trade & Investment’s Passport to Export programme, Jeffery attended a trade show in Dubai which resulted in business worth £25,000. Flushed with success, she took her trugs cards to Thailand and Singapore. With help from the British embassies she appointed distributors in those markets, resulting in further sales worth thousands of pounds. “My experience in those markets led to a visit to

Indonesia where I did 14 presentations to seven schools in ten days,” she says. “We are now intending to supply Indonesia through our agent in Singapore. I also hosted a visit by 23 high-level educationalists from Malaysia. We hope to supply direct to the ministry of education there.” Jeffery’s export success has led to a huge expansion of

her business and she now employs eight staff. www.readsuccessfully.com

springboard: | www.ukti.gov.uk | page 25

Photography: Photolibrary