TIPS ON HOW TO RUN A DAYCARE/CRECHE CENTER IN NIGERIA.

A day care or crèche is a place where babies, toddlers and young children are kept during the daytime while their parents are busy with work. It is a sort of playground/classroom setting where these young ones hang out, play, rest and are taking care of by trained handlers so that later in the day after work the parents can come pick them up.

The Opportunity for these Business.

There is a high demand for Creche and day care schools in our urban centers in Nigeria.How many working class mothers do we have in many of our cities? How many of them have nannies to look after their kids? Fact is toddlers can be a big distraction in the workplace and many mums know this hence why they choose to enroll their darlings in Creches and day care centers. This is the reason many primary schools set up nursery arms to serve as day care centers.

The Team

Your team should consist of highly trained and matured caregivers who have years of experience handling kids at Sunday Schools and Creche/Nursery Schools.

Security/Health

A well trained security personnel should be employed to be a part of the team to safeguard the kids.

Also included in the team should be a qualified nurse who would be accessible if there is an urgent need for health issues with the kids.

Marketing

This is a business which can be started even in your home informally approaching nursing or working mothers in your neighbourhood, at church or any other gathering letting them know what you do.

With time you can print fliers when a number of clients have been attracted.

Requirements

To set up you will need the following;

Rent(Mini Flat)-250k per annum

Furniture:

Bed-N15,000

Ceiling Fan-N5,000

12 Small Chairs – N18,000

3 Small tables – N12,000

Toys – N10,000

TV set – N20,000

VCD player – N5,000

Book shelf – N10,000

Kiddies books and stationery – N30,000

Bedsheets/pillow-5k

Microwave-5k

Generator-15k

Others-50k

 Total-200k

 Overall Total-450k

How profitable is the Creche Business in Nigeria?

Like all businesses that depends on many factors but considering that parents pay N30,000 per term for nursery schooling we would charge each parent say 5,000N per month. Let us assume we have 12 enrollments multiplied by 5 that is 60,000N for the first month.

Breakdown first year (this is an estimate)

30 enrollments X N60,000 = N1.8 million

Running expenses (rent, salary, electricity etc) = N1.2 million

Profit before tax = N600,000

Return on Investment = 216%

This is a business that can be run for years.

RELATIONSHIP TIPS FOR ENTREPRENEURS.

Being in a relationship with an entrepreneur is absolutely insane- for significant people who are married to entrepreneurs, you are saints.

A relationship with an entrepreneur is nothing close to normal.  They are often one sided, always limited on time, and rarely filled with any luxury or comfort.

An entrepreneur’s partner has to put up with so much inequality that it’s a wonder how they manage a relationship to begin with. For entrepreneurs, who are lucky enough to land an understanding partner, here are a few tips on how you can make it easier on your significant other.

1. Time Management.

Phone calls, meetings, networking, blogging, researching, whatever- your startup is taking up all your time and it is a fact that your relationship is grossly unequal. Making time for your partner will take some degree of sacrifice; literally schedule time for dates or taking your partner out.

 If you can not find time for your relationship, then ask yourself why you are even in one. The most powerful executives in the world constantly say you should set aside time for yourself every day to reflect- no business, just you. If you don’t even have time for yourself, how can you have time for someone else?

2. Take a Break.

Yes we know, an entrepreneur must live and breathe business 24/7 if they are trying to be the best in the game, but sometimes its flat inappropriate. When out with other people or friends, don’t interrogate them on what they do for a living and stay out of networking mode. Some entrepreneurs only talk to their friends if they have opportunities to offer them and nothing else- this will make everyone hate you- your significant other is no different.  Your conversations should not be about your business 100% of the time.  Learn to switch from a business mode to a personal mode when you’ve scheduled time to be with your partner or friends and leave your work out of it.

3. Stop Pinching Pennies.

To entrepreneurs, the terms bootstrapping and start-up are the lock and key to their wallets. When dating an entrepreneur, you normally wouldn’t expect a nice car, designer clothes, awesome birthday presents, or fancy restaurant meals. But for you entrepreneurs, a relationship requires mandatory expenses- account for them. Put aside money to take your significant other out to dinner or get small and simple gifts once in a while. If that’s not an option for you, then the only significant other you will be left with is your startup.

4. Avoid being Over-Intelligent.

Entrepreneurs are smart people, at least most of them are, but sometimes they really come off sounding like smart asses. For every conversation topic, their minds go straight to business and you suddenly find that your chat about what to eat for dinner has become a lecture on marketing strategies of restaurants. It sounds harsh, but you simply need to know when to shut your mouth. Your partner doesnt want to hear your random and ridiculous facts about business all the time and it drives them more crazy than they already are for going out with you.

5. Love them back.

Its a simple fact that if you are an entrepreneur, you are too busy to notice certain things or people, like your significant other that you barely have time for yet still loves you unconditionally.

They selflessly give you their time, support, and love, and get nearly none of that in return. Be aware that because you are an entrepreneur, your relationship is already at risk.

So after you are done reading this article, realize how lucky you are to have someone with you on your crazy startup adventure, turn off your device, and show your significant other that you love them.

Quo Magnis Limited brings a new and affordable solution to small businesses

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been known, all over the world, to be engines of economic growth and contributors to employment generation, wealth creation, poverty alleviation and food security.

Largely, MSMEs have been defined based on the staff strength as well as the asset base (usually excluding land and buildings). In most cases, where there is inconsistency between the 2 indices, the employment criterion usually prevails:

·        Micro Enterprises have been defined as those with less than 10 employees with an asset base of less than N5 million.

·         Small Enterprises have been defined as those with employees between 10-49 in number with an asset base of N5 million – less than N50 Million.

·       Medium Enterprises have been defined as those with employees between 50-199 in number with an asset base of N50 million – less than N500 Million.

All the massive attention and support given to SMEs relate to the widely acclaimed fact that SMEs are job and wealth creators. Small businesses remain a veritable tool for encouragement of entrepreneurship, creating immediate employment opportunities, promoting inter- and intra-regional trade, breaking monopoly of larger enterprises as well as alleviating poverty world over.

The current state of MSMEs in Nigeria

SMEs in high-income countries contribute 55% to GDP and over 65% of total employment. In middle-income countries SMEs and informal enterprises account for over 70% of GDP and over 95% of total employment. In Nigeria, based on the collaborative survey conducted in 2010 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) MSMEs account for 46% of Nigeria’s GDP.

The reasons accounting for the slow pace of growth within this sub-sector, its inability to fulfill its potential to the Nigerian economy are not far fetched. Many blame this on the lack of access to finance, some think otherwise, arguing that inappropriate management skills, difficulty in accessing global market, lack of entrepreneurial skills and know-how, poor infrastructure etc. are largely responsible.

In 2004, The Association of Nigerian Development Finance Institutions (ANDFI) issued this statement in relation to why SMEs perform poorly in Nigeria: 

“Finance is usually considered as the major constraints of SMEs. While this may be true, empirical evidences have shown that finance contributes only about 25 percent to the success of SMEs. Thus, the creation of other appropriate support system and enabling environment are indispensable for the success of SMEs in Nigeria”.

It is widely acclaimed that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria are largely not properly structured, are informal, labor intensive, have centralized or concentrated management, are basically involved in trading activities and disorganized as a result of low-level capacity in management, marketing and technical know-how as well as low level knowledge of legal and regulatory practices, policies and accounting practices.

Our contribution to the Solution

Small businesses cannot thrive in an environment where there is little or no structure, where accountability is not the norm / order of the day, where structures, systems and processes are not well defined, flowing seamlessly without the constant minute by minute check of the chief executive.

Our Human Resource (HR) tool has been designed, with the peculiarities of the Nigerian market in mind, and the Nigerian employee, bringing to bear over 25 years of active experience in the Nigerian market, the SME sector and the HR industry. This tool comprises of a well-selected set of templates (of which we are proud to say none of its kind exists currently in the country), which are designed as easy to use, and implement, which will:

·         Provide the necessary structures in small organizations;

·         Provide clarity in job functions and expectations;

·         Enhance accountability within the system;

·       Make the organization a more formidable system – curtailing easy fraudulent practices which is so prevalent in most organizations;

·         Make such organizations more attractive to top talents and

·        Increase the chances of sustainability of such organizations and in the long run, its profitability.

This tool is most useful for organizations with staff strength between 5-35. It is at a very friendly fee – highly discounted to make it affordable and available to this sub sector. We provide implementation support as part of the buying process. We advice organizations with a higher staff i.e. 40 and above to approach us for our customized services – also at an affordable fee.

Quo Magnis Limited

Email: info@quomagnis.com

Telephone: +234 903 052 5028

URL: www.quomagnis.com

About us:

Quo Magnis Limited is a Human Resource Consulting firm – providing change management services to large organizations and structure & process set up services to small and medium sized enterprises. We are committed to the development of enabling structures that enable organizations grow, thrive and maximize its profitability potential. This is why we exist.