Disabilities Kindergarten

The Executive Summary

The Golden Kids Kindergarten (GKK) will be a Saudi Arabia based social enterprise, specifically located in the Eastern region of the country and its purpose is to assist children with disabilities. The organization will be in the form of a kindergarten aimed at disabled kids especially those with difficulties in word pronunciation, speaking and kids with low understanding levels.

The organization in an effort to help the kids will start classes for normal kids as a way of enhancing interactions between them and those with disabilities. The activities will take place at break time thus enabling children to openly interact and enjoy spending play time together. This will in the end speed up development level of kids with disabilities thus allowing them to have great feelings thus enhancing their self-esteem in the end.

The business in this case will also take a social enterprise form by enhancing the abilities of disabled kids via interactions with normal kids. Golden Kids target audience includes disabled children between 3 to 7 years. Furthermore, the organization will ensure high quality education to the children and this will be based on advanced technology.

Competent tutors will also be hired and they will use technology in teaching the kids and it enhancing their overall status. Bearing in mind that this will be social enterprise, the costs will be favorable to everyone including children because of their prevailing economic status. The main purpose of the business is to also enhance skills of kids with disabilities as a way of enabling them to lead a normal life just like the other kids and this will further boost their self-esteem in the midst of other normal kids.

The company will additionally be dedicated to offering high quality, loving and tender care to the kids to ensure that they do not feel self-pity or segregated. The founder owned kindergarten in partnership with other two individuals with exceptional experiences and amazing skills in the field will help to enhance the livelihood of the kids by all means.

The founder as well as the other two partners also has amazing skills in handling children with disabilities because they have worked in the same environment serving under different positons. The three partners will make an incredible and able team to ensure Golden Kids turn out to be exceptional and that all the kids will be treated equality with a lot of love, respect and warmth in an environment that is very conducive.

Golden Kids for the same reason will be surrounded by high experience level and this will play a crucial role in enhancing emotional, physical, cognitive and learning aspects amongst the disabled children. The environment as a result will depict tenderness, love and care while ensuring constructive way of handling issues, fostering independence and enhancing individual growth and self-esteem.

The kids will have unique economic advantage that will set the business aside from other competitors in the market. This is because their services and mode of delivery will be very unique because none of the childcare schools and centers in the region focuses on kids with disabilities via social interactions. It is a strong feature that the organization will have in the market and it is enhanced by the fact that the company is more than willing to delivery high quality services at all times. This will be achieved through the use of professional educators and advanced technology.

The opportunity is also exceptional for the business bearing in mind that (Saudi Arabia) is a region that needs professional care for their kids because many guardians have been entrusting the care of their kids to nannies. As a way of supporting the project and the initiating of the facility, capital will be generated from the partners and in equal contributions.

Even so, the balance will be sourced from SBA, short term loan. The loan will also be resettled within a period of three years.

Industry and the Proposed Company

The Childcare Industry

Saudi Arabia is a region that has offered amazing opportunity for the services that Golden Kids because of the increasing gap in quality and quantity of preschool services. The largest preschool education portion in the area has been formal and it includes day cares, nurseries and pre-school centers. According to Gahwaji (2013), the Saudi’s Children Act of 2005, emphasized on the importance of enhancing professional structure, training and programs besides realization of challenges and difficulties associated with working with preschool kids.

Additionally, there have been growing concerns that different training backgrounds in the region have produced tutors with a wide range of knowledge on their objectives roles and the needs of their kids in different working centers. In specific, this is enhanced by individual values and beliefs that impact their practice while increasing the multiple and divisive concerns.

Records also show that the rate of enrollment in preschools by the year 2002, as at 8 percent despite the growing need for the services amongst residents of the country. Such low levels of enrollment also call for a better understanding of childcare practices in their homes and the readiness of kids to join schools.

Gahwaji (2013) notes that such a number means that there is need for the country to increase the number of preschool centers and tutors. Moreover, research findings still indicate that the number of tutors in the institutions has been relatively low compared to the large number of kids who are in need of the services. The ratio is additionally considered ideal for one teacher who is attending to 13 kids in the national level despite the fact that this was broken down into urban or rural disparities especially in consistency which is extremely high.

As a matter of fact, there are many children who are joining preschool in cities but very few in rural areas. What’s more, the government of Saudi Arabia has been emphasizing on an educational, ‘‘education for all’’ slogan, thus devoting finds to the educational purpose and demonstrating its dedication towards education. Even so, preschool education percentage has since been limited.

It has also been further noted that preschool institutions in the country has been challenged in attending to the growing population diversity in the area in relation to children with special needs (children with disabilities), poverty, lingual and culture. It is unfortunate according to Nassif (2007), that non all tutors in such institutions have the essential education for training to handle such difficulties.

Even though research reveals that preparation of teachers in many cases correlate with their teaching quality, preschool tutor’s level of education in the region varies a great deal. What’s more, Saudi’s Education Ministry (MOE) doesn’t have any specific guidelines for preschool teachers or employees (Gahwaji, 2013).

The Proposed Company

Internal Environment

Strengths: Golden Kids will be attending to target audience that many preschool centers have not delved into. This will be a stronghold for the organization as they attend to disabled children group, a field that many individuals often consider to be extremely difficult. As a matter of fact, it will be a competitive advantage for the organization because many preschools have the skills and capability needed to run such a business.

What’s more, Golden Kids purpose to hire highly professional tutors using advanced technology to ensure the needs of the kids are addressed satisfactorily. The GKK’s management team will also be its strength based on the fact that it contributes significantly to the success of the organization.

The GKK team includes highly qualified professionals with a lot of experience and skills when it comes to working with kids with special needs. This will additionally ensure that children have access to quality services delivered by a highly professional team. With such management, the organization is guaranteed of success since the people will make the right decisions in regards to the business (Wu, 2005).

Weaknesses: One of the Golden Kids, greatest weaknesses relates to the status of their business. This means that the organization will face a lot of challenges in establishing itself in the market and in being an ideal destination for parents in Saudi Arabia to take kids with disabilities. The business will be costly for the organization when it comes to marketing and branding itself before target audience and in winning their trust.

The cost of effects in terms of marketing is additionally limited based on the fact that the organization targets a specific group of children. Bearing in mind that the business will be on a specific location, the number of kids with disabilities may not be high. As a result, the rate of enrollment will also be low. What’s more, the target audience is expected to leave the kindergarten after a given age since the acceptable age for the school is between 3 and 7 years. This is to provide space for other kids thus, keeping the enrollment cycle growing.

In such a case, the number of enrollment is not certain because the institution will not be aware of the number to keep for efficient operations. Therefore, the organization will have to employ effective management strategies to overcome the weaknesses and to ensure it achieves its objectives efficiently (Wu, 2005).

External Environment

Opportunities

The economic status of the country presents an excellent opportunity for this enterprise, Golden Kids Kindergarten. As a result of oil discovery in the region (eastern region), the economy has changed from desert tribes to modern communities. Oil revenues paved way for rapid growth in different regions for the citizens of Saudi Arabia including changes in their daily lives, social changes and massive economic growth.

What’s more, tribal communities primarily from the rural areas became urbanized. The growth led to a total change of the attitude of the people and their lifestyles in the country. With increased economic growth needs and change of lifestyle, there were an increase number of women in the area’s workforce. Many women started working as a way of enhancing their families’ source of income to meet their daily needs.

Others on the other hand became sole bread winners in the families because of divorce or unemployment of their spouses. Saudi women movement similarly, has encouraged many other people to consider employment outside their homes while advancing their careers. The career and unemployed women are in dire need of specialized care for the kids despite the fact that nannies offer unprofessional services (Stucki, 2009).

Saudi’s preschool nonetheless has been sufficient and the quality of their education has also been wanting. This means an incredible opportunity for Golden Kids business to help meet the needs of such women. The women also may have kids with disabilities and they cannot manage to balance between work and caring for the kids hence, creating a need for the children to enjoy specialized care in their absence.

The quality and number of kindergartens in Saudi Arabia and the quality of tutors has also been wanting. The government has a matter of fact been expressing a need for more kindergartens to help meet the needs of the childcare in the area and this is in addition to teachers who are more professional.

Golden Kids will also be in a better position to take advantage of such an incredible chance based on the fact that is a big gap between preschool learning in this kind of market. Besides the limited number of preschools in the area, the kindergarten situation for disabled children is even worse and it is the greatest benefit for the GKK business (Stucki, 2009).

The transformed lifestyle of women in Saudi Arabia is also one of the greatest opportunities for the organizations. Many women in the region have been working hand in hand with the others in developing new market opportunities for business such as Daycares (Bedu, 2008). Saudi’s culture and customs are however still not accommodative to working women.

Working mums are often accepted to get a house help or a nanny to take care of their children or even entrust their kids to relatives when working. Few daycares in the country as a matter of fact take the play group forms that have condensed hours, more specifically, from 0800 to 1200hrs. Such daycare facilities in addition do not accept children below the age of 2.

Many mums in the region are also in need of joining the workforce but they are more limited to taking care of their children. Such mums in some cases have to wait until their kids join schools since daycares in the region are very few. Research also reveals that many women would welcome such daycare opportunities as they care for the children between 0700 and 1800 hours bearing in mind that many businesses in the region operate between 0800 and 1700hrs (Bedu, 2008).

The ladies also expressed their desire to have their kids being enrolled in the facilities where they can interact with other kids hence, learning independence, correlations, sharing and more discipline. The women also believe that the facilities offer more opportunities for growth and development of the children when compared to solitary members of the family of the house help.

It is additionally an incredible opportunity for the organization to grasp because there is dire need for the services they aim at delivering to citizens of Saudi Arabia.

Threats:

Even though Golden Kids business may not witness extreme competition, the business will be limited in the area since it has some organizations that are already well established (competitors) including other existing kindergartens that are also doing the same job. The GKK for this reason will take more time before it wins the trust of the target market to leave kindergarten facilities that are already established and enroll in a new institution.

Creating the business will also need a lot of capital to cater for facilities including playing items or toys, the field for the business and playing ground, incorporating advanced technology and hiring qualified tutors. Even though the new enterprise aims at sourcing funds from contributions of partners and from SBA loan, it is still uncertain as to whether the application of the loan will be successful.

Lack of loan will threaten the establishment of the enterprise and in some cases limit its ability to meet its mission and goal. Having such limitations is of great risk to the success of the business. However, the enterprise can overcome the challenge by having an alternative source of fund including capital angels or capital ventures which, still come with their disadvantages in terms of control and reliability of the enterprise.

Products and Services

The primary services of Golden Kids will be divided into five groups based on the ages of the kids. There are activities that will take place within and others outside the classroom. Being an excellent opportunity in Saudi Arabia, the establishment is expected to grow fast as GKK opens more and more facilities in different areas in the country.

Buzzing Gold: will engage kids aged 3 years with activities including puppetry, songs and movement stories. They will also be blended with physical acts with imaginative plays requiring the kids to create stories. The kids consequently will develop body awareness and listening skills and will playful structured movements, they will be in a position to interact and develop well socially.

Jumping Gold: will be targeting kids age 3 to 4 years and their activities will involve exploring pre-sport and pre-gymnastic skills, for example kicking, throwing and catching.   Every class will be exciting and help to enhance listening and coordinating skills while emphasizing on cooperative play and creation of new friendships.

Drumming gold: this kind of service will target children who are 3 years old in activities including exploration of instruments, lap rides and dancing. This will also help the kids to develop logic of a steady beat and ensuring the atmosphere is filled with fun. Pitch and tone will additionally be assessed through songs and listening activities.

Singing gold: will involve children who are between 3 and 7 years. Their learning formula will include challenge and support growing skills within them. The kids will be inspired to learn their voices singing while exploring a wide range of instruments. Such activities will additionally lead to enhancing of kids social skills and self-esteem because they will participate in group activities.

Birthday party gold: the activity will involve all groups between 3 and 7 years. The organization will celebrate birthdays of children as an addition to their wide range of classroom activities. Fascinating activities will also be developed for the kids while engaging parents through staff facilitation to help make the celebrations more memorable.

Marketing Plan

The GKK has acknowledged the gap in the market within the childcare industry in Saudi Araba. For this reason, it has developed a very unique theory for creation of a kindergarten facility in the region to help address the needs of the children with special needs (disabled children). The kids will do this by employing advanced technology and specialized teachers while enabling the children to freely interact with normal kids for individual, social and cognitive growth.

Even though the number of daycare facilities in the region is limited, the disabled children field has been ignored somehow to a great level. The need therefore offers an incredible opportunity for the organization to efficiently market its services and to excel in the market that has not been greatly explored.

The innovation is additionally an exceptional idea that offers a unique success opportunity for the success of GKK enterprise. The timing is additionally perfect since it is the period when Saudi women’s lifestyles have been tremendously transformed thus ensuring presence of many women in the workforce. Therefore, employed women are forced to leave their kids in the care of nannies, house helps and relatives.

The need for alternative income sources has also made many women to leave their children under the care of unprofessional individuals.

Product: Golden Kids Kindergarten will offer services to kids with disabilities primarily via advancement in technology and professional tutors. The organization will also run as a social enterprise to allow for interaction of normal and disabled kids. Therefore, it will have classes for the two groups of children for interaction (through playing together) to enhance cognitive, social and physical development.

Pricing: the organization aims at setting favorable charges to ensure every interested client gets an opportunity to explore the services. This is specifically based on the fact that it will run as a social business.

Distribution/place: the kids will enroll with the school and attend classes to access the services offered within the facility.

Advertising and Promotion: GKK will initially use distribution flyers and brochures to guardians to market its services offering detailed description of the services it will be offering, charges, and age limit and operation hours. Later on, the company will utilize social media networks to reach out to target clients and traditional media such television, radio and newspapers. Word of mouth promotion will also be used by GKK.

 

References

Bedu, A. (2008). Market Opportunity: Daycare in Saudi Arabia. Retrieved from http://americanbedu.com/2008/04/10/market-opportunity-daycare-in-the-kingdom/.

Gahwaji, N. (2013).Controversial and Challenging Concerns Regarding Status of Saudi Preschool Teachers. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 6(3):333-344.

Nassif, Z. (2007). Beliefs and Perceptions of Early Childhood Teachers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia about Classroom Assessments in Preschools. Jeddah, SA: George Mason University Publishers.

Stucki, A. (2009). Internal and External Factors Influencing Businesses. Business Management Journal, 1(1):1-19.

Wu, Y. (2005). The Impacts of Internal and External Environments. Strategic Management Journal, 26(2):1109-1128.