30 Apr 2015

Some people may posit that taking a child to a day care centre is just luxorybut there is more to that than just luxory. It is every new mothers’ and working parents’ wish to enrol their children in day care centres.

However, many parents still wish to take their childen to day care centres. To make that dream come for those who can afford it, Ms Khumoetsile Montsho who is managing director of Children of God Day Care Centre turned her childhood dream into reality  when she opened the centre in 2011.

Ms Montsho started toying around with the idea in 2010 and rented some Assemblies of God Church premises in Lobatse. In 2011 her idea became reality after applying for financial assistance from the Youth Development Fund (YDF).

She got funding to the tune of P95 000 which she used to buy furniture and all the necessary equipment and it is safe to say at this stage every parent would love to enrol her child at the school to enjoy the benefits that go with it.

“When a dream turns into reality it’s more like entering the gates of heaven,” reckons Ms Montsho.

She saays she came up with the idea because working mothers tend to leave their children with strangers, exposing the child to an unfamiliar environment.

She says it is very important to take toddlers to day care centres so that they do not miss any stage of development, adding they create a homely environment for children of two and half years upwards.

She says her business is doing well despite some hiccups she experienced in the past but that makes her to grow even bigger. They offer pre-school programmes and after graduating children are mature enough to enrol for standard one.

In the heart of Lobatse’s Thema One location, lies an elegant, modern and sophisticated Children of God Day Care Centre. The young entrepreneur says she has all it takes to run a business of such magnitude as she had worked in several day care centres. She did child development at Model Teacher Training from 2003 to 2004 as well as business and management through Junior Chamber International (JCI).

She also did Diploma in Business Management through Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture; furthermore the ministry visits her for business mentoring to enhance her knowledge of business issues.

Ms Montsho says the name of her business depicts that in every move she takes she puts God first and trusts in him that everything will be well.

The 32-year-old woman says she makes follow-ups on the children after graduation as a way of gauging her performance and her finding is that students with a pre-school background perform better and adjust to the learning environment faster than those who never had an opportunity to enrol for pre-school programmes.

The centre started with an enrolment of 24 children but now it has 90. Also, it started with a staff complement of three but now boasts a staff complement of eight.

The centre provides breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks in a hotel manner to teach children table etiquet, thereafter they can sleep or go to play grounds which are fitted with various types of playing equipment.

Children pay P1 200 per term for the school to provide a wide range of creative services and a variety of fun educational programmes. Ms Montsho says such programmes are geared towards easing the burden from working parents to baby sit during productive hours as well as instilling a culture of learning to toddlers.

She says she is currently buying shares as a build up to buying the complex she is currently occupying. She attributes her success to government assistance emphasising she invites a team of auditors from the town council to assist in financial tracking and record analyses.

This is to see if the business is moving forward at the rate she desires as well as provide technical assistance for her to avert misfortune. Ends