EUROKIDS: TRANSFORMING FRANCHISING LANDSCAPE IN INDIA

The education industry is one of the biggest industries in the world, on its way to becoming a Rs 22,500 crore industry by 2020, with no signs of slowing down. In the entire education market, the preschool or child care market is one of the booming segments. Like other developing economies, parents in India have started realising the importance of early education and its implications on the overall learning process of children through the K-12 years. Besides, rising income level, increasing number of working women and increasing awareness about the importance of preschool education have driven parents to enroll their children in preschools. Despite all these factors, the organised preschool market hardly commands a share of 30-32% and players in the segment are geared up to explore the huge scope that exists here.

One such player is EuroKids, which has reinvented education with its unique ‘Child First’ ideology. Launched in 2001, EuroKids has raised the bar for preschool education in the country with its innovative curriculum that offers an integrated approach to the holistic development of a child from an early age.

“At EuroKids, we have been redefining early child care education for over 17 years with a focus on creating a fun-based learning environment for the child. Keeping the ‘Child First’ ideology at the core of our pedagogy, we ensure that the growth, safety and engagement needs of the child are met as they play, learn and imbibe essential life skills,” says Prajodh Rajan, Co-founder and Group CEO, EuroKids International.

EuroKids is evolving the education landscape by paying close attention to enhancing teaching methodology. “The curriculum is structured and focuses on developing ‘Executive Function Skills’ (EFS) in children that are crucial for learning, development and positive behaviour. EFS has been researched by Centre on Developing the Child, Harvard University, which has identified the development of critical capacities of working memory, mental flexibility and self-control as key towards leading successful adult lives,” says Dr. Anita Madan, Head - Curriculum Development, EuroKids Preschool.

EuroKids helps develop these areas in young children by helping them to work with information along with focused thinking while filtering distractions, switching tasks and developing holistically. In addition to offering a constant upgrade to their curriculum, EuroKids also lays special emphasis on providing a safe, secure and stimulating environment to the young children.

All EuroKids’ preschools follow a five-point safety program which includes the provision of CCTV monitoring, child-safe furniture and interiors, safe school certification, qualified female staff and emergency services.

THOUGHT LEADER AND INNOVATOR

EuroKids has transformed itself by adopting innovative and contemporary practices to stay ahead of the competition. The brand identity and its experience have undergone a huge transformation to provide both the children and the parents an unmatched preschool experience. “The transformation has enabled us to share a preschool environment that is appropriate to new-age learning needs of children. With an emphasis on child development, security, hygiene and establishing a close rapport with the parents of each child, our preschools have transitioned into the child’s second home. For the past 3 years our NPS (net promoter score) has been approximately 75%, which is a testimony of our efforts in creating a perfect preschool experience for children,” Rajan says.

EuroKids has a dynamic team with a wealth of experience across varied industry verticals who have garnered their expertise and exposure from leading global brands and refined the delivery of curriculum at preschools, thereby making it contemporary and engaging.

“This new look and feel to the brand has received a great response from franchise partners and parents alike. The transformation has come to us as a result of extensive consumer research conducted by a leading international research agency on our behalf to understand parents sentiments, needs and expectation from a global preschool brand. This sentiment is transformed and now also echoed by our franchise partners who have experienced and reaped the benefits of the new identity on the ground,” believes Rajan.

CREATING EDUPRENEURS

As a thought leader EuroKids believes that preschool franchising is not about creating franchise partners but more about creating a growing pool of ‘edupreneurs’. These are partners who are willing to enter the domain solely with the objective of ‘making learning fun’ for young children. EuroKids is very conscious about the kind of partners that it onboards as this directly impacts the group’s ‘Child First’ ethos. Talking about the franchisees’ profile, Gaurav Brar, CEO, EuroKids Preschool, says, “When we look at joining hands with a partner we do look for like-mindedness. It’s imperative that the partner understands that this business is all about delivering quality preschooling without comprises. The franchisees must have the commitment to help carry forward our objective of making learning a fun experience for children.”

“Prior to getting a franchise partner on board, we look for alignment to our objectives and also measure the ability to deliver upon our ideology and long-term vision of the business,” Brar adds.

The quality control does not end only at the selection stage. In fact, what is more important for EuroKids is to ensure that good intentions and ideas are translated into reality. “Thus, once the preschool has been set up, we walk the path with our partners while we consistently guide them in the initial years of their franchise business set-up. We have audit teams who ensure that compliance to quality norms, safety standards and practices laid down in our SOPs are maintained at the highest levels within the network so both the child and parent receive the best preschool experience,” Rajan says.

IDEAL FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

The preschool space is a great fitment for women willing to begin their journey as Edupreneurs. “The important aspect of running a preschool franchise is about striking the right balance of nurturing and stimulation for the child in a secure learning environment, and we expect our partners to be more than adept at taking up this mantle and delivering a fantastic experience,” says Rajan.

About 80% of EuroKids franchise partners are women, most of them being 1st generation edupreneurs who have opted out of their successful corporate careers to pursue the dream of delivering quality education to children in the country from a very early stage. “And we are glad that they chose EuroKids to fulfill their dreams,” shares Rajan.

WAY FORWARD

EuroKids currently has 1,000+ preschools in 350+ cities and has contributed to the growth and development of children. With its growing popularity and the rise in demand for preschool education in India, last year EuroKids added more than 250 preschools. Rajan says, “We aim to triple our network in the next five years. We believe that there is great untapped potential in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, which is one of our focus areas along with Metro and Tier 1 markets.”

Creating a new benchmark in education

As a market leader in the preschool segment, what strategies do you adopt to stay ahead of the competition?

A preschool must focus on ensuring that all initiatives undertaken are towards improving the learning experiences of children at the preschool and ensuring a cohesive effort by the teachers, parents and partners, thereby positively impacting the entire ecosystem. We have focused towards driving innovation as it creates great value for our stakeholders. The latest example would be that ours is the only preschool brand in India to have undertaken safety audits at our preschool premises and has received an international certification on safety standards from Bureau Veritas. Many such firsts ensure that we and our partner network are always ahead of the curve and set ourselves apart.

How does EuroKids safeguard the interests of franchise partners?

We take special emphasis to work very closely with all our partners and ensure that we collectively achieve the desired results and seize opportunities. Our franchise support program gives the partners all the support they need to establish, run and grow their business. A process-driven approach supported by SOPs ensure every business need of the partner including - the centre design and ambience, teacher recruitment & training, teaching tools and equipment, marketing collaterals etc. are provided for, which also helps us standardise delivery and offer the same experience to the consumer across all our preschools. In addition, we have tied up with multiple financial entities, in order to support the business financial needs of our new partners.

Besides, we have ETAT (EuroKids Teacher Assessment Tool), and EuroVarsity, an online teacher training tool that ensures that all teachers across the board comply with uniform standards and that
their skill-sets are continuously upgraded so that they remain the best in the business.

How do you maintain long-term relationship with franchise partners?

Many of our partners have completed an association of over a decade with us while there are also many who run multi-units of EuroKids Preschool franchise. We are proud to walk this path of their successful edupreneurial journey with them and always ensure a seamless two-way communication flow that is about business interactions, addressing shortcomings, discussing areas of improvement and beyond. It is such interaction and the value that we create together that goes on to build the experience we call Second Home for the children at our preschools and also a foundation for our long-term relationship.

How is technology playing a part in early learning education?

Technology today is all pervasive. However, when it comes to pre-schooling, the amount of technology that a child must be exposed to in his formative years must be supervised. At EuroKids, we believe that what we provide is a controlled learning environment for the child where there is just appropriate tech-enabled learning. As part of our curriculum, we have Motion-Based Learning, which enables learning through a digital medium through games, stories, rhymes, videos, and more. Also, to keep the parents updated, we have the Buddy App which showcases all the fun activities and learnings. All in all, when under a supervised environment, technology is a great enabler of education.

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