Lucrative ‘dance n fitness’ biz opportunity

The 32 year old US-based children franchise, ‘Kinderdance’ has established global presence. Kirthana Ramarapu, Executive Director, Kinderdance India shares brand’s expansion plans in India.

Namita Bhagat (NB):   Brief us on the concept of kinderdance?

Kirthana Ramarapu (KR): The concept of Kinderdance is unique as it blends educational concepts in a developmentally designed curriculum for appropriate age children and has many levels that each student graduates to successfully achieve a great posture, social interaction, leadership qualities, athletic and academic pursuits.  Kinderdance is a worldwide program and its four movement programs are constantly developed and enhanced with new Dance and Fitness Program to ‘Fight against Child Obesity’. In India there is no structured movement program for the young age and Kinderdance is a 32 year old company with a proven methodology where we have designed curriculum for 12 years and the child graduates every year to the next level of the programme. You do not have to be a dancer to be a successful Kinderdance Franchisee!

NB:  How lucrative is the business opportunity for the interested franchisee seeking partnership with Kinderdance?

KR: From the business point of view it requires low investment, has low overhead, simple business procedures, no late nights, flexi hours and prestigious working style in the education sector like schools and pre-schools. Since a Kinderdance franchise does not require real estate, construction or large capital investment, you should actually be in business within a few weeks of completing training at company’s India headquarters. Its 36 weeks curriculum is designed to suit the academic year in a plug and play method and fulfills the need of all pre-schools and schools performing-arts, dance, movement and fitness syllabus. It offers the five programmes such as; Kindertots, Kindergym, Kinderdance, Kindermotion and Kindercombo. This helps schools to either offer it as a value-added service or after-school or extended school activity both benefiting the franchisee. Keeping low-overheads and operational costs with our kind of business model gets the entrepreneurs to focus on ROI in a very short span of time.

NB: Did the concept require any customisation for the Indian market?

KR: Kinderdance concept is unique and did not require any changes as such. We however, did change the business model to suit the India Market in terms of adding it to school curriculum as children have a long day at school and are tired to come to after-school activity. We individualise and customise the dances to suit the school theme, keeping Kinderdance curriculum intact. To add variety, we are now focusing on adding cross-culture programs by incorporating dances from around the world while Indian festivals, culture and dances are being taught by worldwide Kinderdance franchisees in their cities like Puerto Rico, the US, Equador, China etc.

NB:  What is the franchise model for the brand in India? Kindly elaborate.

KR: Learning Parachute India Pvt. Ltd (LPIPL) is the Master Franchise and Area Developer for All India level for Kinderdance International Inc. The brand awards the franchise through LPIPL in three levels: Bronze Silver and Gold. All major metro cities are awarded the Gold level franchise.

NB: What is the capital and infrastructure required from the franchisee’s end?

KR: Ours is a low-investment and low cost model. We do not expect our franchise partners to invest in real estate and believe in the model of working from home and facilitate Kinderdance in all viable locations like pre-schools, schools, community centres, gymnasiums, fitness clubs houses, amenities centre etc.

For Bronze - (Rs 2.25 Lakh including franchise fee and training and start-up kit. For someone who wants to teach all the classes by themselves on a part time or full time basis. (Maximum of 6 exclusive locations)

Silver - (Rs 3 Lakh including franchise fee and training and start-up kit. This level is for a full time commitment as a teacher and/or a manager of teachers to operate Kinderdance business.  (Maximum of 10 exclusive locations)

Gold - (Rs 11 Lakh including franchise fee and training and start-up kit. This level is designed for a motivated, financially qualified person who wants to manage an exclusive territory and unlimited teaching locations and who may or may not teach the program themselves. (City and Maximum of 32 exclusive locations)

NB: How many locations do you have currently in India? What are your expansion plans in the coming years?

KR: Through franchising, we have launched in Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad and in Bangalore. We currently offer Kinderdance in more than 15 locations as after school activity and part of curriculum in more than 10 schools in Bangalore. We plan on expanding to at least 15 major cities like Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Delhi other parts in Mumbai and Chennai, Lucknow, Kolkata, Goa. We also target to have Kinderdance offered as part of the curriculum in the top 10 schools in each of the major cities.

NB: What kind of marketing and support do you provide to your franchisees?

KR: We have a comprehensive training and support programme. The franchise training includes practical training with live classes. Our highly efficient training program enables franchisees to begin operations quickly. The training includes book keeping, marketing, hiring and training and many more apart from core Kinderdance program training. A hand held support for getting started and on-going support in the areas of marketing, advertising, management, training and many other areas as and how required. At our franchisee training course, you learn not only how to use our programs, but also why they work so well with children. Training begins with a comprehensive six – day course supervised and delivered by a Kinderdance Trained and US Certified Trainer at our India corporate headquarters in Bangalore.

NB: Could you share Break even period –ROI facts for the franchise?

KR: This is disclosed to each individual who is a prospect franchise and is based upon the level of franchise and their commitment.