Vittal Bhandary, Founder, MD & CEO, Little Elly Chain of Preschools, stresses on having the right thought process and attitude to flourish in the education market and prioritising kids’ interests simultaneously. Excerpts from an exclusive interview
While Bhandary and his wife Preeti became parents to a girlchild in 2004, they were searching for a top-notch preschool for their little one. While there were a few excellent playschools and nurseries in the area, none of them seemed to provide the kind of comprehensive early education that they wanted for their little one. Bhandary states, “Preeti and I made the decision to conceptualise and dream up a pre-school, since Preeti is an enthusiastic kindergarten teacher with a flair for innovation. ‘Little Elly’ was born, as a flagship brand of Learning Edge India, an entity synonymous with education in Bangalore.”
Passion and patience are the two key traits that they inherit as early childhood educators. About engaging with children, parents and teachers, Bhandary shares, “We regularly interact with our centres and parents on numerous occasions and according to predetermined frequencies. Establishing consistency in our deployments helps maintain a continual connection with the children, parents and our centres.” “Our zonal coordinators go to the centres to observe the employees and offer guidance,” Bhandary adds.
Little Elly recently won ‘Regional Preschool Franchisor of the Year’ award. Expressing his feelings on receiving this award, Bhandary states, “The team is thrilled to receive this honour. Our curriculum is our greatest asset and the combination of the Montessori and Steiner approaches distinguishes our methodology and this made us outperform other players in this category. “To ensure that every child, regardless of the centre they attend, receives the same value as elsewhere, we invest significantly in our training and coaching programmes with our partners,” he further says.
Bhandary believes that business will follow if you have the appropriate attitude and thinking. He suggests, “This industry places a strong emphasis on honesty and integrity while keeping children’s best interests in mind.” There are numerous opportunities in education and India is recognised worldwide. With such a large number of young people, there is enough pie for everyone to enjoy. Our children are our future, he says.
