ECD Small Business Programme Watch video

An all-in-one early learning solution for your ECD classroom: Educational equipment, play-based curriculum, teacher and owner training and mentoring.

If you run an Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre in a low-income community in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, or Gqeberha, this ECD Small Business Programme could be for you. Unlock a 3-year education and business support programme. The Small Business Programme includes Education Support and Business Support elements.

Education support: • a play-based curriculum • a classroom kit ...

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If you run an Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre in a low-income community in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, or Gqeberha, this EC...

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Join the communities already benefitting from starting a ECD Small Business Programme

You'll get guides and resources on how to bring this idea to life.

There is no funding available for this idea in South Africa, but these resources will still help to make your project happen!

Not in South Africa? Change your region
Start a ECD Sma...

I wanted to provide an opportunity for quality early learning to as many children as I could. There are many underprivileged children in my community and I have a passion for education. I would advise other ECD managers to take a leap of faith and...

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ECD Small Business Programme
Julia Muteba
Tin House Educare Centre
Gauteng

How to start a project on ChangeX

  • 1

    Create your project page

    Click the green start button to register and set up your project page. It’s quick, free and easy.

  • 2

    Complete a 30 Day Challenge

    Complete simple steps in 30 days to get your project off the ground.

  • 3

    Activate your project

    Follow the 5 Step Guide and your action plan to bring the project to life.

  • 4

    Share impact

    Share impact by posting a summary and photos and completing a survey.

Great for

  • ECD Centre Owner who have completed the Grow ECD Business Accelerator training course.
  • ECD Centre must be operating for 2+ years and have 25 learners.
  • ECD Centre located within 75km from Grow ECD's offices in Cape Town, Midrand, Durban or Gqeberha
  • ECD Centre charging R350 or more per child per month
  • ECD Centre owner/head teacher must have ECD NQF level 4 qualification

ECD Small Business Programme project essentials

5 Step Guide

  • Review the criteria and "Start" the ECD Small Business Programme on ChangeX
  • Walk through the 30 day challenge to prove your ECD Centre is ready for this opportunity!
  • Grow ECD will deliver and implement your classroom kit and train your teachers how to use the daily curriculum
  • Educate and engage your parents, staff and community to get their support
  • Implement the step-by-step Grow ECD Small Business programme and see your centre and children thrive

Time

Suggested: This is a 3-year trainnig and development programme. You should already be running your ECD Centre and be committed to it full time (no other side-jobs - you need to be actively involved at the centre day-to-day). The Grow ECD Small Business Programme will take 2 days to implement at your centre, once approved. You and your staff will be expected to attend ongoing professional development training at least once a quarter to boost your business and education skills and knowledge. You will be using the grow ECD app daily to track your registers and manage your centre's admin - this should save you time on paperwork!

Resources

More information on how to get started and any resources shared by the ECD Small Business Programme

190 ECD Small Business Programme projects have already been started

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Meet the Social Innovator

Hello there! We know that running a professional ECD Centre takes a lot! It’s an immense responsibility that is as rewarding as it is demanding. Centre owners are expected to manage their staff, finances, nutrition, learning outcomes, compliance, reporting and more… No one should be expected to do this important work alone. Our ECD Small Business Programme is here to lighten your load. Soon you’ll be making progress towards your dream centre.

Tracey Chambers, CEO and Co-Founder

190 ECD Small Business Programme projects have already been started

See where

Members

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why a 30 day challenge?

    The 30 Day Challenge was developed by our Team based on our experience working with communities. We’ve learned that the first weeks are critical to build momentum and get off to a good start with any community project. Teams who complete these steps within the first month are much more likely to successfully complete their project!

    The Challenge is a series of simple steps that each applicant has to complete to get their project off the ground and unlock funding, if there is funding currently available for that idea in your region. Steps include watching a video and/or reading content, having a call with a ChangeX team member, forming a team so that you have support, having your first team meeting, sharing a team photo, and sharing a project action plan.

  • What can funding be used for?

    Once funding is received it can be used to cover direct set-up costs of the new community project. For example space rental, insurance fees, seeds and planting materials, tools, training fees; pretty much any materials you might need for a project that benefits your community.

    Funds cannot be used for the costs of work that has already been carried out, costs unrelated to the setup and maintenance of the new project, payments to group members for their work on the project. Funds can’t be used for the promotion of religious causes, non-charitable activities, sponsorship or fundraising events. Please read the terms and conditions for further details.

  • How do I know if there is funding available?

    On idea pages, if there is funding available for the idea in your region you will see “Funding available” and the region listed in the turquoise box. When you first login you will also see a green banner at the top of the screen saying “live funds near you” if there is funding available in your region. The ChangeX homepage will feature those live funds near you.

    A note on the waitlist: when all the funding has been allocated to applicants, new applicants will go on a waitlist. If some applicants that are in the fund don’t successfully complete the 30 Day Challenge their funding will be released and can be then allocated to those on the waitlist. To see if you are going on a waitlist check the main fund page, ideas fully allocated will have the note “Join the waitlist” instead of “Apply to start”.

  • What is ChangeX?

    ChangeX is a platform that connects communities to proven ideas and funding.

    By empowering local changemakers with proven ideas from social innovators and accessible funding from our partners, we aim to build healthier, more inclusive and sustainable communities. Our work is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and together with our partners, we aim to impact 1 billion people globally by 2030.

    • Communities: Get the funding, resources and support you need to start impactful projects in your community.
    • Social innovators: Connect with local changemakers, access funding to scale your idea, and impact more communities globally.
    • Funders: Fund the themes and regions they care most about, with measurable impact, and at global scale.

    We believe that by bringing the best social innovations and the world’s changemakers together in a shared community, we can accelerate the spread of innovations across the world and have a bigger impact. Together we aim to unleash the potential of changemakers by enabling collaboration, by sharing knowledge and resources, by connecting changemakers across different disciplines and innovations and by opening up access to the world’s best proven social innovations to everyone.

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