The Sunrise startup decided to make money by creating corporate kindergartens, but large businesses are not yet ready for cooperation. Where is the exit?

Irina Isaeva comes to a meeting in a cafe with her 8-month-old son Leva. He is almost the same age as his mother’s business. A little over a year ago, Irina, together with partners Ksenia Lobanova and Ainar Abdrakhmanov, founded the Sunrise company to organize and manage kindergartens and centers using the Montessori method .

The company's founders decided to follow the path of the American company Bright Horizons. In less than 30 years, this corporation has opened more than 700 corporate kindergartens and children's rooms in the USA, Great Britain and Ireland. Each of the partners already had experience in preschool education. Irina became interested in the topic 15 years ago, after the birth of her daughter. “When Ksyusha was ready to communicate with the children’s group, I realized that an ordinary kindergarten did not suit me,” says Irina. Isaeva opened her first garden in a rented apartment in Mytishchi. The method of the Italian scientist Maria Montessori was chosen as a pedagogical methodology, allowing the child to choose when and what activity to do. Over time, the kindergarten turned into a family center, Irina opened a branch and launched two municipal kindergartens in Korolev by order of the local education committee.

At Sunrise, Isaeva is responsible for the methodology and content of projects. Ksenia Lobanova, who has management experience, became the director of the startup. Ainar Abdrakhmanov, whose family opened two private kindergartens, took on the functions of a strategist and negotiator.

Private kindergartens in Russia still look rather exotic: they make up only 2% of the total number of preschool institutions. Corporate gardens can be counted on one hand. Every launch is an event on the market. In 2011, the management of Home Credit Bank opened a free kindergarten for the children of employees of its branch in Obninsk. Capital investments alone cost the bank 1.5 million rubles. If Home Credit completed the task in six months, then the Ekaterinburg company SKB Kontur (software) took five years and three times as much money for a similar project.

The head of the “New Childhood” program at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, Irina Petrunina, believes that the queues for kindergartens are so long that it is simply not possible to talk about serious competition between “Sunrise” and other projects. Director of the Center for Socio-Economic Development of the Higher School of Economics, Sergei Kosaretsky, believes that “Sunrise” will help in promoting the service “Soviet past” - the habit of older people to departmental kindergartens.

Businessmen decided to make do with minimal initial investments and act not as owners, but as operators of projects commissioned by large corporations wishing to open a kindergarten for the children of their employees. The hope was that a socially oriented business would be willing to provide renovated premises and funds for the purchase of furniture, stationery, bedding and other necessary things. But the founders of Sunrise intended to handle the preparation of the premises, staff training, obtaining permits, catering and management.

The partners spent only 200,000 rubles on launching the business (office rent, website creation and advertising campaign). In February 2012, Sunrise began work. The company found its first clients at the alumni congress of the international student organization AIESEC (all the founders of Sunrise were members of this organization at one time). Already in April, a contract was signed with the medical division of Johnson & Johnson. Inspired by the easy start, the entrepreneurs decided that by the end of the year they would be able to increase the number of gardens to ten. But the first contract concluded in 2012 was the only one. Why?

A total of eight large companies showed interest in Sunrise's proposal, but no one wanted to sign a contract. “It was impossible for the boards of directors to prove the need for investment. Either the budgets for the year were already planned, or there were some objections at the last moment,” recalls Ksenia Lobanova. In particular, potential customers were embarrassed by the need to look for free space in their office. In addition, many business centers located within the Garden Ring are located too far from parks where children could walk. Even Johnson & Johnson managers, who were already implementing a program to create flexible working conditions for employees, considered that the idea of creating a full-fledged corporate kindergarten was too risky.

“We needed to make sure that Sunrise was a reliable partner. But most importantly, it was necessary to earn the trust of parents and understand whether it would be really convenient for parents to bring their children to the office, and how the children would adapt to the classes,” explains Natalya Bykova, HR Manager of the Johnson & Johnson Medical Division. The company decided to first try a lighter version - children's camp on Fridays.

Having suffered for several months in an unsuccessful search for clients, the founders of Sunrise decided that at the initial stage the children's camp would become the flagship project. “All last year we tried to convey to companies that corporate kindergartens are not so scary. So the camp is a good way to get to know us,” adds Irina Isaeva.

At the end of May 2013, the partners opened a children’s camp for employees of the Krylatskie Hills business center, where children will spend their weekdays. There was no suitable space in the business center building, so they found a country house a few kilometers away for the camp. The investors in the project were two companies based in the business center - Johnson & Johnson and ZM. The money was used to renovate the premises and pool, install fire and security alarms. For children of employees of these companies, the cost of a two-week shift will be 18,000 rubles. For children of employees of other companies in the business center - 29,000 rubles.

Since the demand for organizing camps also turned out to be small, the partners had to look for new niches. Sunrise began offering construction companies the launch and management of kindergartens in new residential complexes. The startup took part in a competition for the role of operator of a kindergarten in the Microcity in the Forest complex of the Rose Group, but lost due to the too high cost of services. “Sunrise” intended to raise a significant part of the funds for the operating activities of the kindergarten directly from the residents of “Microcity”. But our customers pay a mortgage; additional costs are unacceptable for them,” explains Oleg Danilov, head of the Rose Group education center.

The founders of the startup abandoned unjustified initial ambitions and adjusted the business plan. “We will be happy if we open three kindergartens by the end of the year,” sums up Ksenia Lobanova.

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