In 1997, two maths educators from Queensland, Dr Calvin Irons and James Burnett, launched their own publishing company. With the vision of making a positive contribution to children's education, James and Calvin began writing and producing mathematics resources from a makeshift office in James’ home.
Today, ORIGO Education is an internationally acclaimed education and publishing company specialising in providing high-quality mathematics resources and professional learning services for teachers. The company covers all facets of primary mathematics education, from traditional printed products to digital interactive resources and professional learning.
The key to ORIGO Education’s success is the owners’ genuine passion for mathematics and maths education. Education material produced by the company is researched, written and produced by highly respected maths experts.
This important point of difference was crucial to ORIGO Education’s successful launch into the USA. In 2004, the company established an office in St Charles, Missouri. Unlike its competitors in North America, ORIGO Education is unique in that it is owned and managed by maths educators. It’s also smaller and more agile than traditional education publishers such as Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and McGraw-Hill, which means it can respond to new research and changing curriculum standards faster than its competitors.
In 2014–15, ORIGO Education achieved over 400 per cent revenue growth in North America, due largely to the launch of ORIGO Stepping Stones, an online primary school mathematics programme. The critical turning point came in 2014 when the State of Hawaii adopted ORIGO Stepping Stones for its public school mathematics program. Other multimillion–dollar contracts soon followed from the states of New Mexico and Texas.
Judges were impressed by ORIGO Education’s success in the North American education market, which it described as a feat akin to ‘scaling Mount Everest’.
To learn more about ORIGO Education and its success, read the case study.