When we talk of home-based business, education and training services is the first choice that comes to the fore. It has been the age-old practice followed by womenfolk to provide education at home in their free time, except that they never looked at it fr
When we talk of home-based business, education and training services is the first choice that comes to the fore. It has been the age-old practice followed by womenfolk to provide education at home in their free time, except that they never looked at it from the entrepreneurship angle.
MANY questions come in mind when deciding what business would be ideal in terms of the cost involved, the RoI, the break even time and the feasibility. In comparison to other sectors, education and training offers lot more options to the starters/edupreneurs. As home-based education businesses are propping up in every corner of the market, it has become a dominant sector in the industry.
If you own a space in the residential area, you can think of running a day care centre, a crèche, abacus training centre, tutoring service or even a pre-school from home. It's a smart business choice for those who aspire to be on their own. Other scoring aspects inclined towards this business option are: one doesn't need to spend too much on infrastructure, as the franchisor provides the guidelines that one has to follow strictly and only few amendments are made in the ambience of the house. Plus, operating a day care centre/pre-school from home can bring in more valuable returns than any other enterprise.
Home full of opportunities
As more and more people eschew corporate life for a stress-free business environment, working from home is fast catching up. As education and training sector owns the largest chunk of share in the Indian market, everyone seems to be hopping on to the idea of opening a pre-school or a day care centre or a child development centre or offering tutoring services from home. The potential of operating an education business from home is immense, as private players are now open to the choice of giving their franchise to homemakers. For womenpreneurs, education and training industry presents the opportunity pocketful of lucrative returns. Enlightening on the success rate of home-based businesses in India, Gaurav Goel, CEO, Maxmind India, says, “Almost 65 per cent of our franchisees are being operated from home and most of our entrepreneurs are women. Since our model does not require any elaborated working capital and the profits start flowing from first admission onwards, 100 per cent home-based entrepreneurs are successful.”
Facet of franchising
Industry leaders in education such as Shemrock Schools, Maxmind India, Kindle Kare, EuroKids, and I Play I learn offer the opportunity to women to work from home. According to a source, “80 to 90 per cent of the franchisees investing in EuroKids are women entrepreneurs, ranging from chartered accountants to housewives.” Starting a business from scratch is always tough, as it entails a lot of experience, contacts and exclusivity to create a niche in the market and hence, picking the franchise of a renowned brand is measured to be the right alternative for the franchisees to work from home. One should strive to maintain the standards and ensure that brand's image is not diluted. Amol Arora, MD of Shemrock and Shemford Group of Schools, says, “They only need interiors as per our standards. The initial requirement of staff is only one teacher and one maid to start with.”
As such, no legalities are involved in opening a home-based business in education and training sector, as the authorities have not kept any legal boundaries, rather it provides more accessibility to the parents. Agreeing, Goel informs, “In India, the laws are not very stringent for using the home premises for commercial activities, particularly for setting up units in kids education.”
According to Jayeeta Chakraborty, Director of Kindle Kare, “The ideal franchisees for day care and pre-schools are womenpreneurs within the age bracket of 30-35 years, preferably having a corporate exposure with a passion to perform and most importantly, having a love for children, partnership approach towards business, readiness for making the initial investment and preferably with own premise.”
On modifying the home premises as per franchisor's needs, Goel clarifies, “Our kind of activity does not require much modification. We just need a classroom area and interiors are supported by us. They just need to buy initial furniture and fittings. Total modification can be done in just Rs 10,000 and max Rs 30,000.” For homemakers, Shemrock schools provide a three-day training session, which is conducted at the head office that equips the franchisees and their HMs on all aspects of running a pre-school. Apart from that, the company conducts onsite visits, time to time audits that help the franchisee to keep up the standards and enjoy the growth.
Expansion
Ideally, the companies are looking at associating with housewives or working women. Chakravborty likes to target entrepreneurs who have a talent for entrepreneurship and passion for child development and care and preferably educated women as ideal franchisees.
Speed breakers
Home-based business in education and training may be the ideal to start with but involves certain intricacies too. It involves inactive regulatory parties, collaborating with incompetent franchisees, reluctant to spend on media activities, fulfilling parent's expectations in terms of quality services, lack of seriousness and not matching up with the brand's standards. Highlighting the key roadblocks in operating business from home, Arora, notifies, “The biggest challenge a franchisee faces is to convert a home into a school. It's not taken too seriously if it looks like a home. To overcome this situation, we have a team that takes care of the interiors, exteriors and feel of the place and convert it into a pre-school so that parents get a feel of a professional school.”
Business Opportunities
Our Group Sites
Popular Cities
