Regarding internet connections, Tensleep has fiber to every house in town. The Bighorn basin is a pretty good place to set up. There is a company called Elutian and they teach english over the internet to Koreans and Japanese and need this kind of connection. Here is an example of what is going on in the Basin: Company in Ten Sleep wins funding, may add jobs
By RUFFIN PREVOST
Gazette Wyoming Bureau
CODY - A newly formed joint venture between a Ten Sleep company and two South Korean firms could mean more than 100 new jobs in Powell and additional jobs in other communities around the Bighorn Basin.
Eleutian Technology employs more than 150 certified teachers in Wyoming for conversational English instruction using high-speed video teleconferencing with students in South Korea.
The company announced Thursday that it has received $1.5 million in venture capital from Skylake Incuvest, a South Korean investment fund specializing in the technology sector.
Further initial capital funding of up to a total of $4 million will be available as part of the deal, said Eleutian founder Kent Holiday.
The company will partner with CDI Holdings, a South Korean market leader in English education that has more than 46,000 students, he said.
The joint venture, called Eleutian Korea and to be based in Seoul, will sell and distribute Eleutian Technology's products and services in Korea, Holiday said.
Holiday said a citywide fiber-optic telecommunications network to be built in Powell this summer will allow the company to hire teachers who can work from home, rather than commuting to a data center with a high-speed network.
"Powell's fiber project is critical for us to be able to hire more teachers in Powell," Holiday said Thursday by telephone from South Korea, where he was meeting with new partners.
"One of our strategies is to move teachers to their home in time, and without fiber to the home like Powell will have, we would not be able to offer home-based jobs in Powell.
"I believe that this could allow us to potentially hire well over 100 teachers in Powell over the next couple of years," he said.
Eleutian's teachers work flexible hours earning $15 to $23 an hour, Holiday said.
He said support from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services was critical in helping Eleutian train teachers.
"Without them, it would almost be impossible to do what we're doing right now," Holiday said. "Trying to roll out a new business like this in rural America is very training-intensive, and work force development has made it much easier for us to operate in Wyoming."
He said the company plans to continue hiring Wyoming teachers, and it will eventually recruit nonteachers with appropriate educational backgrounds.
"One of our core business principles is building rural America, and geographically, for our management team living there, it makes sense anyway to focus on Wyoming," Holiday said.
Demand for teachers is likely to continue to rise, as Eleutian Korea "is just the first of a string of joint ventures we'll be setting up with local partners in the future," he said.
Plans call for similar partnerships in Japan, China and Taiwan with local companies that will sell and market Eleutian services - using Wyoming teachers - to English-language students across Asia, Holiday said.
"That's a pretty good deal for this community, and that kind of project is exactly what my hope has been for this fiber project," said Zane Logan, Powell city administrator.
Logan said that as other businesses learn of the city's fiber project, similar job opportunities may arise, offering more options for people looking to earn extra income from home.
Le Ann Baker, director of the Washakie Development Association in Worland, said Eleutian employs some full-time trainers and support staff and that its part-time wages are at or above what most other businesses pay for similar work.
Baker helped Eleutian get state grants for office and data center space in Washakie County, and the company has hired 43 people there, she said.
"I think it is a success story in the making. In small communities, economic development happens one job at a time, so to add 43 positions is a huge asset to the community," she said.
The company's presence in Ten Sleep, home to about 300 people, has meant a rise in school enrollment there of more than 15 percent, helping the previously shrinking school district remain viable, Baker said.
I think this area is better connected than any other part of the state. What other little town in the state has fiber to every home?
Tensleep is a nice place, out of the way and beautiful. Maybe I should just keep that information to myself....
Side note: I lived in Colombia for a while. In Bogota.
