Natacha V. Beim
Name: Natacha V. Beim
Name of current business: CEFA Early Learning Schools
What we do in our business:
We are a progressive and incredibly fun junior kindergarten school for children 1-5. We prepare children for school and for life, using games, puppetry and projects, and introduce them to the arts by offering yoga, visual arts, dance, drama, and much more as a part of our program.
Why this particular business?
I am a teacher, specialized in early learning, and did not find a place that offered a program for children that would truly be inspiring. I could not convince existing centres to adopt a more progressive approach and did not want to compromise on what I thought was a minimum standard for early learning education, so I opened my own school (of course! ☺)
Biggest day-to-day challenges
Currently: consistently finding amazing staff (400+ of them ☺)
Greatest delights in being an entrepreneur:
Being able to do what you truly believe in, and to contribute to the world in a truly valuable way. You feel like each day is an amazing day, a day well-lived!
4 Key pieces of advice you would give to future entrepreneurs:
1. Make a conscious effort to ask others for help and mentorship along the way
2. Learn to delegate, even if you feel it would be easier to do it yourself – you will need the time!
3. No matter how great your business is, always strive to make it better, keep moving forward
4. Everyone will tell you that what you want to do cannot be done. What they really mean, even if they don’t know it, is that it cannot be done easily. It may not be easy, but it is possible!
Where do you see yourself going as an entrepreneur in the future:
I am exactly where I want to be. In the future, I will continue to grow CEFA and ensure that more children are given the opportunity of an incredible start. Also, I will always, always, continue to learn in order to keep our educational program in a league of its own.
Video Links
a. Here, Natacha talks to biztvcanada about how she got started..
http://biztvcanada.com/How-d-You-Get-Started/natacha-beim-cefa.html