Pitman Training : Tomas Finnern Grew His Pitman Network From One Centre to Five
How to use this video
This video features insights from a current franchisee sharing their experience with the Pitman Training franchise. As you watch, listen for details about daily involvement, support, and challenges as well as successes. If this perspective resonates, the next step is to request more information and speak directly with the franchisor.
About This Video
This Pitman Training franchisee testimonial features Tomas Finnern, who opened his first Pitman centre in 2005 with business partner Christian and has since scaled the network to five centres. Tomas brought an existing e-learning business into the partnership and chose Pitman because the brand provided what he describes as a ready-made business in a box: established positioning, a tested course catalogue, and the credibility of the Pitman certificate and accreditation.
The most strategically useful part of Tomas's story is what changed when he scaled. In 2005 he and his partner did everything themselves: tutoring, course advising, marketing, accounts, IT. He calls this exciting and fun, but built around the assumption of full owner-operator involvement. The decision to open a second centre in 2008 unlocked the operational shift: additional tutors, additional course advisors, and the ability for the founders to step back from day-to-day delivery into bigger-picture strategy. He continued opening centres three, four, and five from there, with plans for further expansion.
- Brand: an established name with a 19th-century heritage.
- Network: 15 centres in Ireland alone, a peer community he and Christian leaned on as new operators.
- Marketing infrastructure: branding, brochures, and materials a small business could not build from scratch.
- Support: phone-call accessibility to head office for questions and guidance through the inevitable first-business stumbles.
What he closes on is the Pitman value beyond economics: Pitman franchisees genuinely change lives. Thank-you cards from students who landed new careers are a recurring theme across Tomas's centres.