I change diapers and give bear hugs for a living

Faith Wangare Njenga, 34 is the owner of the Pendo Imani Day Care, which seeks to develop the child’s cognitive, motor, social, and emotional skills. She tells Maria Nene all about it

 My background:

I was born and raised in Nairobi’s South C and attended Kongoni Primary School then Christ the King Academy in Nakuru for my secondary education.

Later on, I went to Saint Mary’s Teachers’ Training College in Bura, Taita Taveta County.

As a child, I liked to act as a teacher. I remember teaching an empty room at home — that was my imaginary class. During my teens I developed a soft spot for nursing.

Due to my natural abilities as a caregiver, I always thought I would eventually become a nurse. But it seems God had other plans. Later when I was a social worker at International Medical Corps, I rediscovered my passion for teaching.

The idea

I can say I started the Pendo Imani Day Care business by default. After completing my training at the teacher’s training college, I was employed at various private schools in Nairobi.

I spent most of my employment at the prestigious Rose of Sharon Academy. After a few years, I felt that I wanted to be more involved in administration, policy and decision-making, especially on how young children are taught.

That is when I started dreaming of starting my own learning institution. 

Early education to me forms the most important stage of any individual’s education. Care providers are essentially our children’s first teachers.

I always had the inspiration to be in the front line in offering an avenue where I will be able to effectively play an integral role in children’s early education.

Starting a day care was an easy decision. This is because of my character, God-given abilities, work experience and education.

I also felt that I was fully-equipped and I had the passion to start my own learning institution. So I decided to start small, build a firm foundation and work my way up.

The inspiration behind Pendo Imani Day Care is to focus on shaping the children mentally, socially, or psychologically at an early stage.

I wanted to offer a safe and family-based childcare environment to meet the needs of the growing number of young families with tight work schedules.

I settled on the name Pendo Imani because my name Faith translates to Imani in Kiswahili and Pendo simply represents love. So it’s simply the love that faith gives to the children.

 What happened next?

I had the option of starting Pendo Imani in an upmarket area but I felt the community where I lived in Umoja deserved the opportunity to enjoy the best child care service that we currently offer.

Plus I had the zeal, requirements and ability to start such a business. And since there was also great need for such an establishment in my residential area, it was an easy decision to make.

Starting up was not a walk in the park. Securing the capital and business premises were my greatest hurdles. But through God’s blessings, everything fell perfectly into place and I was able to start the business.

Since I fully believed in my dream, I prayed about it a lot. It was not very hard to leave my job and other things I was pursuing because I can say I had a dream and a purpose to fulfill.

My first clients were my friends and neighbours. Others came from referrals from satisfied clients. The rest came from a brief marketing campaign I did in the Umoja area.

When you discover your purpose in life then everything is possible. It is funny because I have been vomited on, occasionally wiped tears of “first day” kids, constantly changed diapers and most heart-warming is to be given bear hugs by babies.

All these I have done to children who are not my biological children. And guess what, I love it! I thank God as he has given me the opportunity to be the first to mould these wonderful children.

I wouldn’t trade this heart-warming feeling for anything else; it’s my passion, my purpose and way of life. 

 Running a start-up

I do a lot of reading and research on modern educational trends as well as seek inspiration from similar successful businesses locally and beyond.

I also had to get additional training on business administration. I ensure that I communicate with parents every day on their children’s development.

In addition, Pendo Imani offers more flexible hours of operation on request where we are able to take up kids in the evening, weekends, overnight as well as before and after school. 

Starting the business from a humble setting has been a major achievement. I am happy that we have set up a fun- and play-based learning environment for little learners to develop their cognitive, motor, social and emotional skills.

My first week was very inspirational as I got some clients the second day I opened the day care.

From the capital I had, getting space to set up the day care was an issue. However, I am grateful that we have had an influx of clients. We are now faced with the task of looking for a bigger space. 

An additional challenge is that I have current and potential clients that reside far from our current premises. Therefore, reaching us to drop and collect their children is a hurdle for them.

However, I view it as a silver lining, as we are now planning to open other centres to counter this.

Where I am now

I wish is to start an affordable and highly effective Early Child Education centre in our day care so as to continue our children development past day care.

I plan to have an all-round institution that will not only cater for young kids but also provide preschool and primary education. 

My tip:

If you want to succeed in any business, the most important ingredients are passion and motivation. When you start a business, do not seek to rapidly build your vision but cautiously and gradually build on your vision and mission on what your company should be in the years to come.

Start by seeking to achieve realistic goals and milestones. I am now focused on setting and achieving my small goal which is to ensure Pendo Imani Day Care remains sustainable as I work on my goal of integration of Early Childhood Education and primary education.

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