Vickaash Agarwal, Director, Franchise Development, Kids Campus

With the vision to nurture the young minds, Kids Campus, after adopting franchising has driven them to gain more prominence in the pre-school arena. Vickaash Agarwal, Director, Franchise Development, Kids Campus shares the success story of the brand.

Abha Garyali (AG): Brief us about the inception and success of Kids Campus.  
Vickaash Agarwal (VA): Kids Campus was incepted in 2006 at Bengaluru. We started it as a small pre-school with the aim to develop and nurture young minds in a safe and stimulating environment. We wanted to provide high quality integrated early education to the kids in India. We at Kids Campus believe that children need better opportunities to come out with their individual potentials and talents. Later in 2008, we decided to expand via franchising after gaining experience in the category.  

AG: When did you start franchising? From where did you get the inspiration to opt for franchising as a mode of expansion?

VA: We started franchising in the year 2008. We adopted the franchise route as a result of tremendous appreciation from parents about our curriculum and structure and that prompted us to expand through the franchise network. Looking at the present scenario, it makes us feel that our youngsters are being tied down. Our intention is to set free the young minds and indulge them into free thinking.  

AG: Has franchising made a difference in the performance of the company? Please share how it has done so.  
VA: Franchising has made us more competitive and made us more focused on our weaknesses and strengths. It has also helped us in improving our existing education system to make our deliveries more impressive and effective. 

AG: What is the USP of Kids Campus?  
VA: Kids Campus is known for its safe and standard infrastructure, structured curriculum, low investment module which is suitable for tier II and tier III cities.  

AG: What can you foresee about the future of educational franchises in India?  
VA: India offers a huge potential for education entities that are planning to spread their concept in India through franchising to educate the young Indian population. Early childhood care and education are the first among six 'Education for All' goals that the whole world is committed to achieve by 2015. According to UNICEF statistics, four per cent of GDP is spent on education, while in developed countries seven to eight per cent is allocated to education. Therefore, in such diversified conditions, educational franchises definitely have huge potential in Indian market. 

AG: How many franchisees do you presently have?   
VA: Presently, we have 37 franchisees across all major cities of the country. 

AG: In what ways do you support and train your franchisees?  
VA: We have dedicated zonal managers for our business partners across India. Apart from this, we have in-house support team who takes care of all the issues of franchise requirements. We even send the audit team to our business partners’ location to identify domains, where improvement is required. 

AG: How much investment is required by an aspiring franchisee?  
VA: A franchisee is required to invest around Rs three lakh to Rs six lakh in our franchise business. 

AG: What are the challenges that can be faced by a franchisee in this business? How can they overcome these challenges?  
VA: Presently, the industry lacks awareness amongst the parents about the importance of pre-school education. Parents usually plan, research and save money for the higher studies of their children but not pre-school education. Parents are not convinced about selling out some part of income on pre-school education. Therefore, an entrepreneur needs to put efforts in creating awareness amongst the parents. In order to overcome these problems, an entrepreneur is advised to organise regular parents’ boost-up programmes and develop information distribution facilities.