Childcare Mixes Work and Play

Childcare was a key concern for working mother, Dawn Engelbrecht, when she arrived in New Zealand from South Africa. Initially, she enrolled her children in a small childcare facility at Willowbank School, in the Auckland suburb of Howick, but after a short while, it became clear to her that she’d be better off running the centre than continue paying the fees. Dawn embarked on her own venture and seven years later, she runs a franchise of 38 Auckland-based after-school childcare programmes, and is looking to expand into the Tauranga area.

Engelbrecht’s Safe Kids in Daily Supervision (SKIDS) operates by paying schools 10% of revenue to use their premises for childcare before and after school. This offers the schools a chance to earn extra income and enables the children to remain in a familiar environment.

SKIDS home based education business is run by Engelbrecht and her franchise partner Bev Parsons, and currently supports 27 franchisees, who pay $25,000 for rights to the programme, plus ongoing royalties, and earn an average $60,000 a year for a 30-35 hour week.

While it is not a high-earning franchise scheme, Engelbrecht insists that her franchisees “are buying lifestyle and they are buying fun".