The person behind India’s leading daycare chain IPSAA. Lets take a closer look at Kanchan Mittal, a CA, a doting mom to 2 daughters, who pursued her wish of making childcare available to other working moms.
From a practicing Chartered Accountant to founding a daycare business, which is a 50 centre strong chain today, what has been the inspiration?
I started my career as a Chartered accountant in the early 90s and got married. I lost touch with most of my friends as everyone got busy with their lives. The use of computers was scarce and mobile phones did not exist. With the widespread use of mobile and social media, I was able to reconnect with my friends. To my dismay, I found out that most of them, even the brilliant ones had not been able to pursue their careers as there was no childcare support available to them.
I have two daughters who are serious about their careers and are working hard to turn their dreams into a reality. Ipsaa was born the moment I linked my friends’ realities to my daughters’ dreams. Ipsaa is a Sanskrit word for ‘a wish’. It symbolizes every woman’s wish to do well in her career, without giving up on her responsibility as a mother; and every child’s wish to be in a happy learning environment.
Ipsaa is more than a business, it is our inner calling to create a better tomorrow for our children.
What is unique about IPSAA ?
Ipsaa’sUSP is it’s connect with women. Our endeavour is to provide an end-to-end, hands-free experience to parents, starting from preparation of in-house fresh meals, to extending the childcare hours and providing opportunities to children enrich oneself through hobby classes.
Tell us about the team.
Ipsaa reiterates the importance of collaboration and teamwork in life. The first collaboration happened between me and my co-founder, Shiv Mittal, who is also my husband. Shiv and I decided not to work together at the beginning of our marriage as we both have similar professional qualifications. Ipsaa, however taught us how to work together and bring our respective expertise to the enterprise. Shiv takes care of centre expansions whereas I manage the operations. After working together for 4 years, we realized that we both have found our calling. Sometimes I feel that our entire experience until now has been a preparation for Ipsaa.
We were lucky to find Arti Mohan before our first year of operations. As head of the curriculum, she brings in-depth knowledge about children and experience of academics. Our strategic collaboration with ICPL (Integrated Childcare ‘NEST’) helped us on-board Namrata Bachani, perhaps the most experienced and knowledgeable person in the industry. Pranab, head of Sales & Marketing, a son of two lecturers brings in vast experience from the hospitality sector. His wife had to give up on her career because of childcare. Thus it is easy for him to connect to the cause of Ipsaa. Ajanta Pawar, heads Operations (West) brings in excellence in the way we run our centres. Dr. Jyotsana looks after compliance.
There is an endless list of team members, and all of them bring in different skills and expertise. Above all, everyone loves children
What are the plans for Ipsaa this year?
Now that our philosophy of providing daycare facilities to working parents is finding increasing acceptance in the society, we wish to make the most of it. We want a good daycare facility to be available to every mother who wishes to get back to work after giving birth. We are approaching various corporates and government agencies to help build a strong network.
Our plans ensure that the scale of operations grows while maintaining and enhancing overall quality. We are standardising facility setups & designs, automating reports to parents, strengthening reviews and audit procedures and arranging funds for possible expansions.
What is your message to other working mothers?
Out of the two sentiments ‘pride’ and ‘guilt’, working women should hold on to their pride. Give your children a reason to be proud of you and your achievements instead of guilt that you gave up a career to look after them. Be proud of managing both responsibilities successfully. I believe in the power of women to multitask. To my mind every woman is a form of Ashthabhuja Durga.