- Communicaid
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For other uses, see Communicaid (disambiguation).
Type Business Consulting Country United Kingdom Availability United Kingdom, Worldwide Launch date 1992 Official website www.communicaid.com Communicaid is a British company headquartered in the City of London which offers culture and communication skills training and consultancy to clients across the globe. Its core competencies include Global business consultancy, Cross-cultural training, Communication skills training and International management training.
Contents
History
Communicaid was founded in 1992 by Cambridge graduates Stuart Fraser and Adam Dakin to provide language training to corporate clients based in the City of London. With significant international exposure and large international workforces, City of London based organisations were seen as an ideal target audience for Communicaid’s service offering.
Run on a day-to-day basis by Adam Dakin (now CEO of Telereal), Communicaid grew quickly winning many large language training contracts with companies such as Marks & Spencer and British Airways. In 1997, Communicaid formed a joint venture with University College London’s School of European, Eastern and Slavonic Languages (SEES) to provide language training to a number of public sector institutions including the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence.
The 1990s saw the company grow rapidly reaching a turnover of £2m by the turn of the century with 20 full time employees.
2000–2009
The following decade saw Communicaid run by a new team of Directors, headed by Managing Director Andrew Maddison. The company diversified its product offering from its core competency of language training into the complementary solutions of cross cultural awareness training, communication skills training, offshore training solutions and international management training.
The last decade saw Communicaid grow rapidly and end it with a turnover of circa £7m and more than 55 fulltime employees. Since 2007 Communicaid has been led by one of the original founders, Stuart Fraser, and is now positioned as a leading international training consultancy with a strong client base in the financial, legal, pharmaceutical, FMCG, defence and security sectors
Overseas operations
Communicaid opened its first overseas training centre in Paris, France in 1997. Since then the Paris-based operation has grown to become a leading provider of language training and cultural awareness training in the French market. 2001 saw Communicaid open its second overseas centre in Frankfurt which was followed by a representative office in New York City.
2009 saw Communicaid win the contract to provide language training to Institutions of the European Union, based in Brussels. Communicaid Brussels opened in April 2009 and is responsible for training more than 10,000 EU employees each year in more than 26 languages.
Global delivery
Communicaid’s 800 strong team of trainers and consultants provide training to clients worldwide. Each year sees Communicaid deliver training in 30+ countries to in excess of 500 clients.
Core Training services
Communicaid core competencies are :
Consultancy
Communicaid offers consultancy services to international clients including Audit, Relocation Assistance, Materials and Recruiting Testing.
Clients: SriLankan Airlines. Consultancy project to help SriLankan Airlines improve the cultural awareness skills of their ground and air staff in order to deliver excellent customer service.
Clients: Lowe & Partners. Cultural consultancy for the global HSBC "World's Local Bank" advertising campaign.
Cross Cultural Awareness Training
Communicaid delivers comprehensive range of programmes to help international organisations understand the cultural attitudes, values and behaviours of their overseas colleagues and clients.
Culture for Business and Management. - Managing International Mergers and Acquisitions
Culture for the Public Sector. - Working with public sector organisations as diverse as the Department for International Development (DFID), Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Department for Health.
Culture for Human Resources. - International Management Selection
Doing business globally
Communicaid provides international business management programmes including how to do business with countries as diverse as China, India and Russia, 2007 also sees new public courses such as Offshoring - Effective People Management and Supporting Expatriate Employees.
Language training
Communicaid delivers training in more than 65 different languages and dialects. Communicaid is considered to be one of the world leaders in “less widely taught languages” including Pashto, Dari, Yoruba, Potwari and Hausa. Communicaid is also a world leader in the provision of specialist English language training including Insurance English, Legal English, Financial English, and Diplomatic English.
Communication Skills training
Communicaid provides a wide range of group workshops and individual coaching for executives who wish to improve how they communicate whether through written correspondence, formal presentations, virtual meetings or one-to-one interactions.
New technologies
In addition to face-to-face training, Communicaid also offers blended training solutions, online learning packages and a virtual classroom environment.
Financial performance
Year Turnover (£m)
1997 1,25 1998 1,84 1999 2,33 2000 2,66 2001 2,77 2002 2,99 2003 3,12 2004 3,07 2005 4,05 2006 4,06 2007 5,02 Communicaid in the Press
- Deloitte encourages learning and development (Tax Journal, February 2010)
- Managing and leading an international team (Newsline, February 2010)
- Lack of languages damaging the economy (Channel 4 September 2009)
- Helping companies do business in the Middle East (The National, March 2009)
External links
Categories:- Training companies of the United Kingdom
- Companies based in London
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