Rising Women Power In Booming Pre-School Industry

According to a Statista report, the size of the Indian preschool and childcare market was 3.8
billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and is set to across $7 billion in 2028, marking a rapid growth
through the years.

Factors Driving The Rapid Growth In Pre-School Industry

1. Changing Family Systems: With the family structure marking a noticeable shift from
   joint family system to nuclear set-ups, husband and wife have their hands full with
   professional commitments and running the household. This creates a need for early
   involvement of a formal structure to take care of the child and nurture the youngling
   in the initial years.
2. The Rise Of The Working Mother: With more and more women joining back or
   continuing in the work force even after child birth, the new moms are constantly on
   the lookout for safe, secure and nurturing environment for their child in their absence.
3. Rising Disposable Income: With per capita income increasing, especially in the
   metropolitan cities and urban areas, parents don’t want to compromise on the quality
   of early education for their child. Hence, the rise of new and innovative
   methodologies that have found their space in pre-school arena. 
4. Rising Awareness: With parents today being well aware about the child’s growth
   patterns (Scientific studies prove that 90% of the child’s brain is developed by the
   age of 6) and facilities and pedagogies available on the global platform, there is a
   growing demand for these amenities to be made available and entrepreneurs are
   responding quickly to it. The demand for better early education is on a rise across
   geographical demarcation of metros, tier I to tier IV towns as well.
5. Tech Invasion: With remarkable technological advancements in the field of early
   education, there are new found business opportunities in the field. Demand for
   interactive and immersive learning, smart classrooms is on a rise as they help
   elevate the learning experience and can be tailor made according to child’s learning
   pace. “Even during the brutal times of covid, we were able to re-purpose some of our
   online tools used for K-12 segment, for early education and help serve kids as young
   as 2-3year olds in 2021”, says Prajodh Rajan, Founder, Lighthouse Learning (owners
   of EuroKids and Kangaroo Kids).With 1600 franchisees across India presently, Euro
   Kids is one of the most successful pre-school brands. Coming from Lighthouse
   Learning group, Euro Kids takes pride in its ‘child first philosophy’ and aims at
   doubling its network in the next 3 years, working to add 500-600 franchisees to its
   brand every year. The brand operated on owner-operator model as it believes that
   pre-school is a highly involving business.
   
   Sister brand of Euro Kids, Kangaroo Kids is Lighthouse Learning Group’s premium offering in the early education segment. With 135 franchisees throughout India, the brand aims to reach 300 franchisees in the next 36 months.

What Makes Women Shine in The Pre-School Industry
1. Trust In Natural Nurturers: A mother is a child’s first teacher and it seems they are also more
comfortable with fellow women/mothers being their child’s first formal
teachers as well.

2. Understanding Child’s Needs: Since many of the women entrepreneurs who venture into the industry
are mothers themselves, it makes it easier for them to emphasize with
the parents and understand their concerns and requirements.

3. Lesser Investment Than Formal K-12 Set-Up: The pre-school market becomes more lucrative for women
entrepreneurs as it requires lesser investment as compared to many formal K-12 school set-ups. “The initial investment required to initiate a Safari Kid franchise partnership in India ranges between Rs. 80,00,000 –Rs 1cr”, says Shy Mudakavi, Founder, Safari Kids.
Mudukavi started Safari Kids in 2005. An international chain of pre-schools present across India, USA and Canada, the brand has been franchising since 2013. It has 11 pre-schools in India and around 47 overall. Safari Kids takes pride in having 100% women franchisees.

4. Recession Proof Business Set-Up: With early education becoming a necessity for child’s holistic development, parents are willing to go the extra mile for it even in the times of financial constraints. This makes pre-school industry a stable
business opportunity for many women entrepreneurs.“Iris is working towards expanding its new vertical “Iris Early Years” to all major Indian cities. Preschool is a very profitable and recession-free business model, with a huge requirement for early years education”, says Sirish Turlapati, Founder, Iris Florets. Founded by alumni from BITS Pilani
and IIM, and envisioned by Dr Yandamoori Veerendranath, Iris Florets
– The Happy Play School started out in 2015. The brand has more than 145 preschools across India, Nepal, and Uganda at present. With expansion plans on the horizon, Iris Florets is set to make its mark in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh as well.
“We are positioning ourselves to become an organization with more than 1000 business partners in multiple countries over the next 10 years”, says Dr. Yandamoori Veerendranath, Iris Florets.

Boasting an ROI of 40%, Sirish Turlapati, Founder, Iris Florets says, “It is very important to have a good franchisor and franchisee relationship to improve brand loyalty and increase profitability with mutual growth.”

5. Handholding Opportunities Available: Many women entrepreneurs find it easy to align with a pre-school brand, which can help them with various aspects of setting up and running a successful pre-school via franchising. “Euro Kids boasts of a meticulous franchise management system with centralized services being provided to all franchisees, majority of which are enterprising women”, says Prajodh Rajan, Founder, Lighthouse Learning group.“We take immense pride in the fact that 100
percent of our franchisees inIndia, USA, and Canada are women. We provide continuous comprehensive training and mentoring programs to empower women entrepreneurs with the essential knowledge and skills vital for their success”, says
Ms.Shy Mudakavi, Founder, Safari Kids.

With pre-school industry on a rapid growth trajectory and an array of successful brands offering hand-holding via franchising and ready to expand their network across markets (be it metros, tier I, II or III towns); the future of early education and women entrepreneurs in early education, both look bright. “We have seen spectacular growth post covid. New
entrepreneurs are more comfortable with aligning with a renowned brand than walk alone, as it minimizes the risk”, observes Prajodh Rajan, Founder, Lighthouse Learning group.