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Dharun Nur Educare, located in Cape Town, is the brainchild of Shihaam Hassan, who used her UIF money to start the school. <a href="http://www.fin24.com/Womens-Wealth/Multimedia/The-House-of-Light-20130805">View gallery</a>.
Fin24 user, Sihaam Hassan of Dharun Nur Educare shares the thrills,
spills and chills of setting up her own successful educare centre. She
writes:
I WAS employed in the corporate world and had done a course in early childhood development for enrichment.
I resigned and helped my husband in his business for a couple of months when my mom called me up one day and said: "Hey, I have premises for you to open a school, why don’t you do it?"
I must admit I was apprehensive, but my mom - who has been in the business for 30-plus years - kept saying 'you can do this'.
I invested all my UIF money, which I had saved untouched, into buying equipment and paying my rental for the first month; I held on to the rest to pay a salary to my two employees at the time.
I started with four children in January 2001 in premises with two rooms, an entrance hall and a bathroom. I was quite devastated at only having 4 children and actually cried saying I spent all this money and what am I going to do.
By Febuary we were up to 17; by year-end we had over 30 children and were pushed for space. This first year was extremely challenging, especially with getting the right staff and and meeting financial obligations.
I could hardly believe the rate at which the school was growing. I was also dead set on creating an environment I would be happy to place my own children in. At year-end we hired Turfall Civic Centre and had a high tea to raise funds for the school.
I was extremely nervous and worried what would happen if nobody came, but beyond all my wildest dreams we had a full hall and a successful function.
In 2002, I was trying to make my fledgling business grow, but this was no easy task. It consisted of myself, three staff members and about 32 kids. I was trying to keep the school updated with new equipment and educational material.
During this time, my husband and I bought a house and it was also the year the partnership he had in his business went belly up. My kids were small, we had a bond to pay and whoops, I was pregnant again.
However, with my little business we managed to survive.
During the school holidays of December 2002, my elderly neighbours offered me their house to rent and use as premises for my school. It was also the year we had our first big concert, something our school has become quite well known for.
In 2002, my sister proposed joining me as she was pregnant with her first child. We decided that since I had a big new premises, she would operate the toddler side of the school (the 6 months to 3 year age group) while I continued with the 3- to 6-year-olds.
It was a thrill to to be in a place, decorate it and have the space to turn it into my dream school.
Meanwhile, my mom retired after 30 years experience in the preschool environment and joined me permanently in my school. She managed my sister’s part of the business, while I concentrated on my side.
At this time we used to have open days to advertise the school, and also placed many ads in the community newspapers and also on the Islamic radio station. These days we get many of our applications via word of mouth and don’t advertise as extensively.
In the ensuing years I, together with my sister, pursued our vision of creating the perfect place for children. It appeared to be working because each year our roll increased.
This was also the time that she resigned from her permanent job and we became full partners in the business.
This was also just after a parent and some of our staff tried to sabotage us by attempting to “steal” all our children and staff. It did not work and the following year we were fine and had quite a nice roll again, with majority of our clientele choosing to stay with us.
In 2006, we started the painstaking process of registering our school. This involved zoning, health and safety and fire safety regulations as well as dealings with the department of social services. Our documents were lost numerous times, and social workers changed too many times to mention.
By the time we received our registration in 2009, three years later, everyone in these departments knew us by name because we camped in their offices and persisted in calling them to achieve our goal.
It was a very proud moment when we received our registration certificate, which meant that we fulfilled all the criteria to be one of the few registered educare centres in the southern suburbs. We also received a certificate from the Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa for being one of the safest schools and meeting all their safety standards.
Slightly off the topic, I would like to say that I feel for the schools who do not have the resources and know-how to achieve this. If it took us three years WITH resources to accomplish this, how long will it take others who do not have the resources that we had?
I am constantly badgering officials, including the mayor, for a better system. I even sent a proposal via two people sent from the mayor's office to discuss this with me, but the poor and underprivileged continue to suffer because of a badly-managed system.
I am planning to make it my crusade to help them and just need to find the right platform.
As the years passed, our roll grew and we ended up converting the double garage and separate entrance into classrooms as well. We now have six classrooms, 75 children, six teachers, three support staff, a secretary, and my mom as an overseer as well as my sister, my partner and administrative principal and I, the principal.
I think that we have achieved our dream - but not without the blood sweat and tears, the good times and the absolutely horrible ones. I think the journey was necessary to reach this destination where we have a school to be proud of aesthetically, academically and Islamically.
- Fin24
* This is a Fin24 user submission. Add your voice to our Women's Wealth Issue and help empower others this Women's Month.
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Ask the experts
I WAS employed in the corporate world and had done a course in early childhood development for enrichment.
I resigned and helped my husband in his business for a couple of months when my mom called me up one day and said: "Hey, I have premises for you to open a school, why don’t you do it?"
I must admit I was apprehensive, but my mom - who has been in the business for 30-plus years - kept saying 'you can do this'.
I invested all my UIF money, which I had saved untouched, into buying equipment and paying my rental for the first month; I held on to the rest to pay a salary to my two employees at the time.
I started with four children in January 2001 in premises with two rooms, an entrance hall and a bathroom. I was quite devastated at only having 4 children and actually cried saying I spent all this money and what am I going to do.
By Febuary we were up to 17; by year-end we had over 30 children and were pushed for space. This first year was extremely challenging, especially with getting the right staff and and meeting financial obligations.
I could hardly believe the rate at which the school was growing. I was also dead set on creating an environment I would be happy to place my own children in. At year-end we hired Turfall Civic Centre and had a high tea to raise funds for the school.
I was extremely nervous and worried what would happen if nobody came, but beyond all my wildest dreams we had a full hall and a successful function.
In 2002, I was trying to make my fledgling business grow, but this was no easy task. It consisted of myself, three staff members and about 32 kids. I was trying to keep the school updated with new equipment and educational material.
During this time, my husband and I bought a house and it was also the year the partnership he had in his business went belly up. My kids were small, we had a bond to pay and whoops, I was pregnant again.
However, with my little business we managed to survive.
During the school holidays of December 2002, my elderly neighbours offered me their house to rent and use as premises for my school. It was also the year we had our first big concert, something our school has become quite well known for.
In 2002, my sister proposed joining me as she was pregnant with her first child. We decided that since I had a big new premises, she would operate the toddler side of the school (the 6 months to 3 year age group) while I continued with the 3- to 6-year-olds.
It was a thrill to to be in a place, decorate it and have the space to turn it into my dream school.
Meanwhile, my mom retired after 30 years experience in the preschool environment and joined me permanently in my school. She managed my sister’s part of the business, while I concentrated on my side.
At this time we used to have open days to advertise the school, and also placed many ads in the community newspapers and also on the Islamic radio station. These days we get many of our applications via word of mouth and don’t advertise as extensively.
In the ensuing years I, together with my sister, pursued our vision of creating the perfect place for children. It appeared to be working because each year our roll increased.
This was also the time that she resigned from her permanent job and we became full partners in the business.
This was also just after a parent and some of our staff tried to sabotage us by attempting to “steal” all our children and staff. It did not work and the following year we were fine and had quite a nice roll again, with majority of our clientele choosing to stay with us.
In 2006, we started the painstaking process of registering our school. This involved zoning, health and safety and fire safety regulations as well as dealings with the department of social services. Our documents were lost numerous times, and social workers changed too many times to mention.
By the time we received our registration in 2009, three years later, everyone in these departments knew us by name because we camped in their offices and persisted in calling them to achieve our goal.
It was a very proud moment when we received our registration certificate, which meant that we fulfilled all the criteria to be one of the few registered educare centres in the southern suburbs. We also received a certificate from the Child Accident Prevention Foundation of Southern Africa for being one of the safest schools and meeting all their safety standards.
Slightly off the topic, I would like to say that I feel for the schools who do not have the resources and know-how to achieve this. If it took us three years WITH resources to accomplish this, how long will it take others who do not have the resources that we had?
I am constantly badgering officials, including the mayor, for a better system. I even sent a proposal via two people sent from the mayor's office to discuss this with me, but the poor and underprivileged continue to suffer because of a badly-managed system.
I am planning to make it my crusade to help them and just need to find the right platform.
As the years passed, our roll grew and we ended up converting the double garage and separate entrance into classrooms as well. We now have six classrooms, 75 children, six teachers, three support staff, a secretary, and my mom as an overseer as well as my sister, my partner and administrative principal and I, the principal.
I think that we have achieved our dream - but not without the blood sweat and tears, the good times and the absolutely horrible ones. I think the journey was necessary to reach this destination where we have a school to be proud of aesthetically, academically and Islamically.
- Fin24
* This is a Fin24 user submission. Add your voice to our Women's Wealth Issue and help empower others this Women's Month.
Write a guest post
Share your coping tips
Ask the experts
