October to March happens to be when we get the most inquiries for information on how to set up a daycare and what to look out for. Potential daycare owners give different reasons for their desire to set up a daycare.

Our foremost question is, what is your drive? What is behind your intention of setting up a daycare! Business? Pleasure? Passion? Retirement plan?

Why do you want to get into the daycare business?

Daycare is a service business, and service should offer solutions to a current and/or recurring need besides earning you money. That being said, there are basics to setting up a daycare, and these basics, if you get them right, will determine the success or failure of your daycare. What might make a difference is your much-needed patience and tactical and analytical ability to overcome the inherent challenges of operating a daycare.

If you called Find A Daycare now and said you want to set up a daycare, we are likely to talk about the following;

1. Where do you want to set up

2. What age group are you targeting

3. What’s your overall budget

4. Are you familiar with the legal requirements

5. Is the premises yours or leased

6. Do you have any knowledge or background in daycare management

7. How familiar are you with your preferred location

You might have some or all answers to the questions above. Nevertheless, we still work with you on the way forward.

What’s important is keeping an open mind and the possibility of deviating from your original plans.

What is my budget

What’s an ideal budget? Kshs.20,000? Kshs.50,000? Kshs.250,000? Kshs.1,000,000? Well, all those are ideal budgets. But then again, what are you considering in your setup;

• How big a house (yours or leased),
• Type of equipment (new or used, varies with age group)
• Renovation?
• Decoration?
• Staffing?
• Pre-setup advertisement? licensing (varies per county), and many more…

You can always start small or go big straight away, it’s a personal choice. Personally, I always advocate for starting within a sustainable budget but with the ability to accommodate growth.

To be continued…