Winning ideas turn focus on little ones

30 January 2010 - 09:27 By Jane Steinacker
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now

Early childhood development dominated the 2009 FNB Seda Business Launchpad competition, with about a third of the winners of various categories focusing on this segment.

From children's gardening courses to paediatric journals, there are entrepreneurs taking care of children's every needs.

Kaybee Motlholoa, the executive manager for corporate services at the small enterprise development agency (Seda), commends the interest shown by entrepreneurs in children.

"Every child is born is a future leader. Investing in children at an early age is critical, especially in areas where there isn't much access," says Motlholoa.

But while praising the work done for children, he is hoping that entrepreneurs will start focusing on the older market.

"We need to balance the distribution of services and look at extending services to older people beyond a working age."

He adds that much of the country's social instability is brought about by the lack of entrepreneurship for school leavers.

"More importantly, though, are young adults between the ages of 18 and 24. They should be encouraged to become entrepre-neurs and we (Seda) should play a leading role."

Meg Faure's book Baby Sense launched her business. The book's success led her to start designing and introducing products into the market that would help parents raise their children.

While Faure's Cape Town-based business is growing, she has not been immune to the challenges of building a business. She recently had to let go of a staff member addicted to drugs while simultaneously attempting to keep her business healthy.

She says she also needs to plan her cash flow carefully to ensure that she always has money to pay staff and suppliers.

Despite this, she has managed to secure Woolworths and Edgars as customers and will be releasing another book soon.

A large part of her success she attributes to the support she receives from her husband, whose involvement in the business has been unwavering.

In 2003, the first Opti-baby centre opened its doors.

Founder and CEO Ina van der Merwe wanted to create a high-quality baby-care centre for children aged from three months to five years.

What makes Opti-baby so popular is that parents can see what their kids are doing on the Internet while they're at work.

Little Green Fingers, the third winner, is owned by Sally-Ann Chalmers of Johannesburg. Her creative gardening course for three- to seven-year-olds is aimed at introducing children to nature and nurture through practical and fun activities.

The course is marketed as an extramural activity at nursery and primary schools, and Chalmers has 16 schools on her books.

"Let them scratch around in the soil, search for bugs, plant seeds and see nature's little ecosystems at work," says Chalmers.

Selvan Pather of KwaZulu-Natal started the Paediatric Quarterly, a free professional journal that is now in its third edition. He circulates 1600 copies every quarter.

It is currently a one-man business and additional marketing efforts will hopefully see the core publication becoming sustainable.

While the businesses in this sector are stable and successful, most of the owners agree that an injection of funding will assist them in taking their businesses to the next level.

The winners will now need to work with their allocated mentors to submit their funding proposals to Enablis, which will present them to the funding committee, where the final decision will be made.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now