Eyursalem Getu, the daughter of famous Ethiopian businessman Getu Gelete agreed to a five year franchise agreement with Good Beginning Day Care and Pre- school a US company to open a child care center in Addis Ababa. It offers early learning and child care programs which are licensed under the Ministry of Education for children from six months to four years old.
The day care and pre-school has over 100 branches in the US and Canada. Their Addis Ababa branch opened for business this month. . The center which took four months to build, hired teachers who hold degrees in early childhood education. The 1,100 square meter center which is found at the back of Sheger Building will have the capacity of accommodating 80 children and 15 nannies trained at Eshururu, which specialized in developing child care workers. The child care center charges USD 6,000 a year.
Some special features of the center include artificial grass and a rubber matted playground area so children can play freely without risk of injury. The center also features mini shops, a small kiddy gym constructed out of plastic and drawing boards. Eyresulem Getu founder of the school told Capital that helping to reduce the amount of time spent by women caring for children helps them to play an active role in the economy. “Starting a day-care business involves lots of patience, love and passion with the kids. First, you need to determine if you want to start the business from your home or from a location outside the home. If it is going to be a work-from-home then you need to look at the room you are using to see if it has the capacity to be used by many children. If it is going to be outside the house, then, you need to see if it is going to be a self-owned or a rented space so we did this before we rented the center, ” she said. Currently more than 60 day care centers are operating in Addis Ababa. They charge between USD 500 to USD 9,000 per year. Good Beginning was established in 1999 in the USA and specializes in Day Care Services, a Child Care Center Child Care Services after School Programs Early Childhood Education Pre-kindergarten Education and Early Learning and Development Services.
[capitalethiopia.com]