Springs Tots Childhood Centre becomes a thriving business
Small business programme helps ECD centre become a thriving business
Image supplied by the publicist
Lucia Shumbayaonda opened her ECD Centre, Springs Tots, in Gauteng in 2017. Lucia has managed to turn her centre into a thriving business with 52 children and a team of six dedicated teachers – but it hasn’t been an easy journey.
Lucia says,
“I started my ECD centre because I have a passion for teaching and helping children in my community. I saw that there was a need in my community as there was no centre around teaching the holistic development of children. I saw it befitting to take advantage of my qualifications and resources. I also wanted to create employment for people in the area.”
Lucia’s journey was a challenge at the beginning.
“The centre was running without a proper curriculum and we had no management systems until we joined Grow ECD in 2022,”
she says.
“I wanted to run my business professionally. I realised that Grow ECD provides the curriculum, classroom resources and support for the ECD. That’s what I really wanted,”
she says.
“Before I joined, everything was haphazard. We had no curriculum to follow, no financial records nor did we know how to do them, no proper systems for keeping records, like registers and compliance documents, and a lack of teaching resources and materials in my classrooms.”
Lucia’s Spring Tots benefitted greatly from being part of the Grow ECD Small Business programme, a step-by-step training and development programme that helps ECD centres provide 5-star quality education while running their small businesses more professionally.
She says,
“In the three-year programme Grow gives us the training, mentoring, and curriculum for free. We just need to invest in our classroom kits for each classroom, which is the equipment that helps us implement the curriculum. Grow helps you understand how to afford this. I decided to go for a low-cost loan because it’s affordable and they helped me every step of the way.”
Now, Springs Tots Childhood Centre operates like a well-oiled machine. Lucia explains,
“I get all the teaching resources and materials that are aligned to the curriculum, as well as the Grow ECD App where everything is recorded and kept paperless. They also provide staff development mentorship and training that helps teachers do their work.”
“I am running my centre like a professional now, a dream come true for me. I have systems in place that guide me through the implementation of lessons, record keeping and I can keep track of my finances. Everything is traceable. All the resources and documents I need to run a successful business are available on the mobile app."
“Joining the Grow ECD Small Business Programme was a wise decision. It gave me the hope and the tools to improve my centre,”
says Lucia.
Image supplied by the publicist
About Grow ECD
Grow ECD is a non-profit social enterprise within the Taking Care of Business (TCB) group, dedicated to transforming Early Childhood Development (ECD) in South Africa. We equip and connect ECD centre owners with the skills, support, and resources they need to provide 5-star early learning and build financially sustainable centres.
Our holistic model makes it possible for ECD businesses to become more sustainable while ensuring high-quality early education is accessible to every child.
Our services include:
- Free ECD management app – A powerful one-stop-shop to manage admin, finances, assessments, parent engagement, and teacher development and connect preschools with hundreds of downloadable business and education resources.
- Data-free online training – Professional and personal development courses for ECD owners, managers and teachers.
- Play-based, online curriculum – A daily, NCF-aligned, DBE-approved curriculum and teacher’s guide designed to help teachers of all levels provide quality education for 0-5-year-olds.
- ECD Business Accelerator – An intense six-part training programme that equips centre owners with a social-entrepreneur mindset and provides the essential skills to take their ECD centre to the next level.
- Small Business Programme – A comprehensive, step-by-step three-year programme to building a successful ECD Centre which includes practical training, mentorship, and resources to help ECD centres improve business sustainability and education quality.
