| 12 January 2010
Feature Article
Getting pleasure in doing business about kids
by
Vincent Wee
Tue, Jan 01, 2008
The Business Times
.jpg)
FOR Grace Kids founder Grace Sagaya Chia, business is and has always been about children. "I never thought about doing business," she says.
Bored with staying at home after her first child was born, she started a music-based course for youngsters called Rhythm in Me in 2003.
News of her innovative teaching quickly spread by word of mouth, which led to demand from parents for more programmes. And one result was a non-structured format that teaches children through play, which became Busy Buddies.
From the start, improvisation was the key to everything Ms Sagaya Chia did. "The parents on my database want the same thing I want for the kids, which is creativity," she says.
This is the guiding principle that underpins everything she does. The aim is to give children space and time to grow.
Another thing Ms Sagaya Chia wanted was a way to meet the exercise needs of children. Outside expertise was used for this through a franchise arrangement with US-based My Gym.
After starting Busy Buddies, Ms Sagaya Chia saw a need to create a single place for parents to take their kids to meet all their needs, rather than take them to many different places for different activities.
An all-in-one idea with everything needed for early childhood development was born. It was to include physical fitness, music, play groups, art and of course basic play.
Ms Sagaya Chia spent about a year looking for a physical fitness programme after she noticed that some mothers did not really know what to do with their kids. She took on the My Gym system on a franchise basis because she was impressed with it.
Growing calls for her to organise parties led to the creation of the third arm of her business - Jolly Party, which organises parties and provides party accessories.
Being energetic and loving kids makes business a pleasure for Ms Sagaya Chia. "I've got 30 screaming kids around me at a party and I'm fine," she says.
At the moment, the three parts of her business are run as separate entities. Rhythm in Me is the biggest revenue contributor, bringing in about 30 per cent, followed by My Gym. But down the track, she sees Jolly Party becoming a big player. "The demand for parties is definitely there," she says.
From this month, the three units will be combined as one, so it can be marketed as a whole concept and offer parents a complete package.
Amid all this has, Ms Sagaya Chia has been savvy enough to step back and assess the best way to grow the business, which will be franchising. This has meant getting patents and doing plenty of preliminary work. The teaching syllabus and concepts are all original and needed to be protected.
Ms Sagaya Chia's greatest concern is that franchisees maintain the standards she set right from the start. Rhythm in Me has interested parties from Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, and even some expressions of interest from Europe. But the founder is treading carefully because the goodwill her brands have built up over the years could quickly be dissipated if franchising is not done properly.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2007
The way to tell a S'porean and a Malaysian apart is
This is a strong lady with strong wisdom, she is from Malaysia and she is Grace Sagaya Chia.
I repects her determination and strong will especially from a young lady from small town in Malaysia. This is her inspirational story about her life:
UP UNTIL she was 16, Grace Sagaya Chia used to have only one meal a day, made up of rice, water and onions in her hometown of Kuantan, Malaysia.
Her driver father made barely enough to feed the family of seven but her mother dreamt that her only daughter would grow up to be a music teacher.
She was hardworking, knowing one day she will be successful. Starting from young, she cut grass and cleaned houses to pay for her daughter's organ classes and asked the local parish priest to let her practise on the church piano.
Today, the 31-year-old Mrs Chia tinkles the ivories at St Bernadette Catholic Church in Zion Road for the 6.30am mass every day.
She also runs five successful child-related businesses with 16 staff members: a children's music studio Rhythm In Me; play centre Busy Buddies; My Gym Children's Fitness Centre; Jolly Party which sells party supplies and plans parties; and Thin Crust Cafe, a cafe at My Gym.
The businesses, the first of which was started in 2003, were all inspired by her children, Suzannah, five and Elijah, two.
Home is a five-room HDB flat. She and her husband, John, 33, an engineer, do not own a car and take the bus to work.
Even so, it is a long way from her early days working in Kuala Lumpur. She was a property and insurance agent by day, hockey coach by evening and pub DJ by night.
If she could squeeze some time in between, she went around to restaurants and cafes peddling anything from pens to books.
'That's what made me who I am today,' she said of her six years of juggling.
'So If I fall, I'd say, so what?' 1
1. http://ky-lifestory.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
