A LANGUAGE school is taking a bite out of the Big Apple. Cactus, in North Street, Brighton, is opening an office in New York, its first branch overseas and the start of ambitious expansion plans. Boss Rich Ambler will run the school's new office in Lower Manhattan. He outlined his plans for the company in an interview with Argus Business two years ago and now he has fulfilled his dream.
He said: "This feels like the right time to go to New York. We have the products and people in place and we are confident we can give it a good go. If we get the model right. we will be looking to open another branch somewhere in Europe, then somewhere further afield." He added: "1 am looking forward to living and working in New York. It will be a great experience."
The Cactus NY office is in the heart of Manhattan, less than two blocks from Penn Station. Midtown is home to world-famous commercial buildings such as the Rockefeller Centre, Radio City and the Empire State building. Midtown Manhattan is the busiest single commercial district in the United States, more than 700.000 commuters work in its offices, hotels and stores. The area also hosts many tourists and students.
Cactus will be starting its foreign language courses in several locations across New York from January next year, focusing on corporate training. Meanwhile, operations this side of the pond will be run by head of marketing Richard Bradford who is taking over as managing director of Cactus' British operations. Other staff changes include: Chris Moore, currently director of studies, who is moving to head of Cactus Language Training; and Germaine Broadhent, head of Cactus Language Training, who will be heading a new global sales division focusing on business development throughout Cactus in Britain and the US,
Cactus provides language training for businesses and individuals across dozens
of cities in Britain and organises training holidays abroad. Cactus has
sent 15.000 people on language holidays since it opened in 1998 and its clients
include household names such as EOF. Diageo. Microsoft, Orange, Royal Mail,
Volvo and the RAG.