Small business programme helps ECD centre become a thriving business

By Grow ECD

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,” she says.

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,” she says.

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,” she says.

“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.