Born out of an existing family business in 2008, GetSmarter has grown from strength to strength since its inception. The company is positioned as a high-touch online education company that works together with top universities and industry experts to deliver online short courses throughout South Africa. These short courses run for 10 weeks and include about 70 hours of comprehensive learning for their students. Having trained over 7,000 students in just a few short years, the future of online education is looking extremely bright. The company’s second year saw it grow by a massive 300%, and subsequent annual growth has been steady at 170% year on year.
It now boasts 50 employees and works with a network of 20 teachers throughout the country to teach people online. Rob Paddock, who has recently taken over from his brother Sam as Managing Director, explains, “We’ve moved offices three times in the past few years, and our latest move to 1,000-square-metre premises allows us to continue our expansion and find innovative ways of designing a vibrant company culture.” He’s adamant that the company won’t move again for at least another three years.
The space has also allowed the team to launch new projects through the newly formed GetWings incubator. “GetSmarter has allowed us to learn a lot about how people teach and learn online. Our new projects out of GetWings are all in the online education space and we’re looking forward to launching two exciting projects in the next few months,” says Sam Paddock, head of GetWings.
Both Rob and Sam believe that their businesses are built and supported by great people. It is in line with this philosophy that their new offices include a personal training studio run by a Biokineticist, who also looks after the team’s health and wellness, and a full-time chef who serves breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks. The company has designed themed break-away rooms to stimulate focused team work. Did we mention the 150-square-metre balcony and 270-degree views of Cape Town?
Here’s the new office in pictures:
Take a look at some of the other pics of this great office environment. My favourite – the blue sky room, with astroturf floors…
