A mother can sacrifice everything and purchase anything for her child – Such is the love of a mother. This story is about a mother whose care and love for her child led her to do things which she would have not chosen conventionally.
‘Hurray Kids’ – first indigenous entrepreneurial venture of Somapika Sarkar is born out of the love and interest to educate children on life skills in a simple and joyful manner. Hurray Kids follows the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended Life Skills framework for product design. It offers a wide range of products such as Life Skills Orientation kit, Life Skills Cards, Life Skills worksheets and preschool Life Skills curriculum. Over the next few years, we intend to be a one-stop solution for all sorts of life skill aids. Our next product is in the finishing stage – life skill curriculum for Pre-Schools. In addition Life Skills worksheets would be shortly available on our website. It would come up with many more Life Skills Products in both online and offline format.
Somapika believes that everyone has that one moment where they take that bold decision and decide to do something for the sake of improving the lives of their loved ones. The moment when succeeding is not so important but trying to make a difference is. That is when one does things that he/she believes in strongly. For her, that moment arrived as a parent of 6 years old son. She remembers, “As a parent of 6 years old son, I felt the need to prepare my child beyond academic skills, especially the life skills which are required to face daily life. By life skills I mean social, emotional & thinking skills which would help in the holistic development of my child. While searching for aids on these Life skills, I realized there are hardly any options to choose from. Then when I decided to come up with the idea of Hurray Kids – an educational venture to promote life skills in children and prepare them to be Life-Ready. Thus, the journey started in Nov 2016”.
Starting her first professional journey as a pre-school teacher, Somapika moved on to social sector looking after educational projects. She has always been associated with educational assignments for children. She has been the educational franchisee of SmartQ from Sept 2013 to April 2016. In November 2016, she started Hurray Kids by herself in Mumbai but she is glad that she got full support from her family. Also, since her father is alreadyinto entrepreneurship, she thinks it is never a bad idea to follow your father’s path. Recalling her earlier days, she informed that she was 36 at the time when she started this venture. In order to give a happy and joyous name, she chose Hurray Kids for her venture.
Talking about her aim in business, she told, “My aim is to reach maximum number of children and life skill them. I want to create awareness on the need for life skills education in early years among the parents and education fraternity. Once this awareness sets in, numbers will follow”. According to her the biggest issue for running this business is lack of awareness about the concept of Life Skills education among parents as very few understand the need to impart life skill education at early childhood.
Self-belief and unconditional love and support from family keeps hermotivated to carry on with her business if at times when she feel low. Tip she gave to upcoming start-ups, “Have perseverance and creativity”.
About Hurray Kids
Hurray Kids is an educational venture dedicated to promoting life skills among children for age group 2-10 years in a simple & joyful manner by partnering with parents & schools. She shares, “Our vision is to instil a naturally pragmatic outlook in children; and thereby enabling the children to grow into responsible, compassionate, resilient and well-adjusted adults. We at Hurray Kids, firmly believe that life skills should be imparted from early years as these formative years education nurtures the core of the child’s personality”. In fact, Hurray Kids follows the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended Life Skills framework for product design. It offers a wide range of products such as Life Skills Orientation kit, Life Skills Cards, Life Skills worksheets and preschool Life Skills curriculum. Giving a glimpse of her vision regarding future, “Over the next few years we intend to be a one-stop solution for all sorts of life skill aids”, she added.
Why do your customers select you over your competitors?
Hurray Kids is the only brand that simplifies Life skills in such a beautiful way. The introductory product – Life Skills Orientation Kit is the first kit of its kind in the country for children in the age group 2-10 yrs. Our two little life skills champs (characters) Hur and Ray make the learning journey enjoyable.
Furthermore, she emphasized, “Extensive use of illustration & reference to real life incidences makes it engaging & relevant for kids. This kit is also the first of its kind parenting tool or parent-child engagement tool to impart life skills training to children. The unique non-clinical approach makes it easy for any parent to understand & impart”.
Giving an insight into her business strategy, she added,” We are positioning Hurray Kids as a brand which simplifies life skills for children and which promotes life skills parenting through various initiatives”. She feels that there is still a lot of need of spreading awareness about the need for life skills for children through social media & workshops and collaborating with entities in the adjacent space of parenting & education.
Inspiring herself and keeping motivated, she said, “I know for sure we can still do a lot more”.
You can contact Somapika Sarkar and Hurray Kids at:-
Email: info@hurraykids.com
Phone: +919167044715
Website: https://www.hurraykids.com
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Edited by – Adarsh Verma
In collaboration with The Lifestyle Portal
