Reliable and quality childcare can be the deciding factors whether a mother participates in the workforce or not, often leaving them to choose between motherhood and work. Seeing the difficulties young mums faced propelled Caroline Popoola to create a safe space that nurtured children and put parents at ease. Almost two decades since she founded Alpha Childcare, she speaks to AMAKA about the bumps along the way or as she likes to call them her badges of honour and what’s ahead.
Popoola founded Alpha Childcare in 2004, while also growing her young family, which gave her first-hand experience about the struggles parents face. This made the mum of three empathetic towards parents and their need to leave their children in a “safe, clean and friendly environment.”
Fast forward to 2022, Alpha Childcare now has 14 branches across London, and recently started
franchising the brand. Popoopla, who has successfully scaled her business over the last 18 years, says she learned entrepreneurship from her mother who was the proprositress of a snacks shop.
Popoola was born in London and spent parts of her childhood in Abuja, Nigeria, before returning to Britain at age 16, which she admits took some getting used to. By her own admission, she was not fond of education, failing nearly every exam she ever sat, something that is often considered a taboo in African households. Nevertheless, she has always been able to fend for herself. After she moved back to London as a teenager, Popoola held odd jobs including one at McDonalds to get by.
It was one of those jobs that changed her career trajectory, setting her on course to where she is today. While working as a cleaner at an insurance company, she saw a job advert for a filing clerk, which she applied for and was successful. After three months working in that role, she pivoted into the insurance industry. But the former insurance underwriter, who worked at Lloyds of London and other insurance firms, suddenly found herself made redundant in 2002 after spending 12 years in the sector.
Embracing trials as a badge of honour
The road to success can be hard and lonely, but according to Popoola, having an optimistic outlook on life has helped make the ride easier. “There’s no success without failure,” she says. “I prayed and spoke my business into existence.” Popoola adds that one of the key elements to making it in any field of work and life in general is to focus on what’s on the other side of a challenge, rather than fixating on the negative. The entrepreneur who sets mental boundaries for the things she allows to occupy her mind is very clear about why you should pay no attention to what people say either. “Seriously, what’s the worst thing that can happen if you just go for it? If you’re afraid that people will talk about you, guess what, they will anyway,” she quips.
While most people, especially women, tend to hide their vulnerability in the workplace, Popoola is proud of her ability to live in it. “I love being vulnerable. I’m not ashamed of it, it’s a strength,” she says. “Discover who you are, learn to love yourself and use this to achieve your goals.” She adds naivety can be a blessing in business as it allows you to take steps without obsessing over the outcome. “Fear is often self-induced and a prohibitor of success.”
Balancing motherhood with career
Popoola never envisioned herself working in childcare or with children, rather she found herself guided in that direction. “It wasn’t a conscious decision I made and if someone had told me back then that I would end up working with kids I would have laughed at them,” she says.
Embarking on her entrepreneurship journey as a new mum helped Popoola understand some of the demands life makes on mothers and the challenges they face trying to achieve their personal and career goals. She tells AMAKA about one such story when she was doing an evening training course. “My daughter was three months, and she was only on breast milk. My husband would bring her to me and I would feed her during my breaks, and they would wait for me in the car so I could breastfeed her on the ride home when I finished,” she explains. “Looking back now it seems crazy but at the time it wasn’t something that I saw as an obstacle because I’ve always loved a good challenge,” Popoola adds.
This experience impressed on Popoola the importance of keeping mothers engaged in the care of their children even when they are left in her company’s care, promoting positive parenting, sending daily updates and ensuring safeguarding is in place.
"There’s no success without failure"Navigating the pandemic, building back stronger
A multifaceted business woman who is passionate about developing and scaling businesses, Popoola says it is important to raise leaders within your network so you can leave behind a legacy that exceeds you. “Around 90 percent of our team have started at the bottom and worked their way up, promotion is good for business and individual growth.”
Despite
Alpha Childcare being in a sector that was hard-hit by the pandemic, as many firms in the UK were shut for months due to lockdowns; Popoola and her team worked together to get through the instability. As a childcare provider
Alpha Childcare was deemed an essential business, with two sites remaining open during the crisis. Popoola says there were no redundancies and no permanent site closures. The company which employs over 75 staff members across its London branches had less than 10 people working at the time – Popoola included, while 75 percent were placed on furlough.
Popoola says she left the decision of who to put on furlough to her employees. She explains how she told them she didn’t know what was going to happen, but they “would never starve and I would pay them even if it came from my own account.” However, there were a few rules in place, only those who drove or had someone who could drop them off, or could walk to work were allowed to come on-site.
Additionally, she and her team ran online reading sessions and activities on
Instagram and
YouTube for children and parents stuck at home to keep them engaged.
Philanthropy and empowering the community
Giving back to the community is equally important to Popoola, who has set up several initiatives under the Caroline Popoola Foundation (CPF). They include: Project Dreamseed, which “provides start-up and scale-up tools to wide-eyed, young entrepreneurs with great ideas.” They also invest in small firms and creatives, helping them buy the equipment they need for their trade.
Inspired by the Netflix series Top Boy, Popoola created
The Bright Boys Foundation, to help families with young boys in the hope that they will not fall into gang life or selling drugs. “We help them get the essentials that they need, like a microwave, fridge and food, to prevent the boys from taking it upon themselves to become providers through illegal means.”
While
Mum’s Purse, donates food supplies, clothing and other relief materials to different groups in a time of crisis. In December 2021, the charity took on 20 families who are not eligible to receive benefits within the UK social welfare system and are struggling for a trial programme. And for the last three years, Mum’s Purse has helped to feed 150 mothers every month who have no support from their families. According to CPF's website, “Mum’s purse is our way of ensuring that we dig in and dig deep when times get rough for people who are already vulnerable.” CPF also helps widows through its Widow’s Minds initiative.
Popoola’s next goal is to empower the next generation of Africans to actualise their dreams. “One way doesn’t fit all and becoming successful is not dependent on what you study or work as,” she says. Popoola is referring to the long-held tradition of African parents who often give their children the choice of becoming lawyers, doctors or engineers. She wants to change the narrative about education and careers. And plans to set up 26 creative centres across Africa, so students can learn and gain skills in the following areas: hairdressing, painting, childcare, web design, make-up artist, plumbing and construction. They will also get the opportunity to complete a one-year paid internship, with top students being set up in business and receiving a grant of 100,000 in local currency. The best part she says is that retired professionals including grandmothers and grandfathers will train them. It will kickstart in Nigeria this year, with plans to expand to Kenya, Ghana and Zambia.
Popoola’s Top Five Tips/Advice to Women Entrepreneurs
1) Be authentic, once you know who you are, very few things will move you.
2) Be emotionally intelligent in your business, don’t take criticism personally.
3) Gain knowledge, be the best in your chosen field and the go-to person.
4) You have to care about the people around you, you are only as good as your team.
5) Look after yourself, you’re not superhuman, enjoy life and work – balance it.
