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(ABOVE) PEtEr hOLSt tion?" Users can add their own feedback, voting on whether they thought a place was great for any of the experience catego- ries on Tangoo—and in return, users can earn a chance at gift cards and other bonuses. While the popular Yelp app is Tangoo's biggest com- petitor, Davidescu also identifies Zomato (which recently acquired Urbanspoon) and Foursquare as key rivals for market share. Tangoo's revenue model involves signing restaurants to premium memberships that offer "spe- cial access to better target and engage with the right users on Tangoo"; a year in, Davidescu says that Tangoo has 10,000 end users and has signed 20 restau- rants as premium subscribers, including the Donnelly Group, Brown's Social House, Hamilton Street Grill, Bam- budda and The Irish Heather. "Tangoo was created to fill a void for consumers who were frus- trated with finding great experiences around them," he says. "Since Yelp didn't quite solve this problem for our audience, we decided to play in this arena." Vij, the man behind Vij's, Ran- goli and My Shanti, has famously clashed with Yelp in the past, as a July BCBusiness story details. Tangoo, though, strikes Vij as more positive. "People are deciding where to eat by using their phones and com- puters, sometimes just minutes before heading to that restrau- rant," says the 50-year-old. "Tan- goo offers the best restaurant app out there when it comes to making those decisions." • How Tangoo works The Global Classroom N u m e r o l o g y by Melissa Edwards That's how many foreign students came to B.C. to study last year—43,500 to language schools, 14,100 to K–12 schools and 57,000 to post-secondary schools—contributing a combined $2.5 billion in direct spending to B.C. Randall Martin, executive director of the B.C. Council for International Education, says foreign students were once seen simply as a source of discretionary funding for schools, but by the 2000s, governments started to grasp that those graduates often stay, helping boost aging or skill-starved workforces worldwide. That realization has led to a global spike in the creation of educational programs designed for and marketed to the nearly five million (and growing) people who seek education outside their home country every year. "There's been this piling on of aggressive competition, dictated by government mandate," says Martin. ITALIAN MAYBE? Tangoo's Paul Davidescu, with colleague Suraya Tabesh, look up business-friendly restaurants SEPtEMBEr 2015 BCBusiness 19 number of direct jobs in B.c. related to international education. Increase in the number of students coming to B.c. from India since 2010. the 2016 target for foreign students in the B.c. government's International Education Strategy–almost 19% higher than 2014. 114,600 27,000 141,000 118% Step 1 choose your occasion (evening) Step 2 choose your experience (date night) Step 3 Your dining options (personable staff) came to B.C. to study last year—43,500 to language schools, 14,100 to K–12 schools and 57,000 to post-secondary schools—contributing a combined $2.5 billion in direct spending to B.C. Randall Martin, executive director of the B.C. Council for International Education, says foreign students were once seen simply as a source of discretionary funding for schools, but by the 2000s, governments started to grasp that those graduates often stay, helping boost aging or skill-starved workforces worldwide. That realization has led to a global spike in the creation of educational programs

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