Video
Rebalancing with Planet EMC
How quality time with family motivated this founder beyond the 9 to 5
In conversation with Renny Adejuwon
My name is Renny Adejuwon and I'm the director of Planet EMC. Before Planet EMC, I worked with the NHS and Queen Mary University, working with families and the community, helping parents with their childcare, and understanding the development of their children.
Planet EMC provides education, training, and childcare to any customer or individual who wants the service, helping educate everyone from babies to adults. The courses provide a variety of services in childcare, development and education, for individuals, families, organisations, and corporate bodies, that are in need of childcare.
The business idea came from wanting to have a work-life balance and time for my family, and not wanting to do the normal 9 to 5.
Inspiration
Our motivation was family to start with. The funding was readily available at the time, as I got it from a family member, and we just wanted to have work-life balance.
But most of the motivation came from wanting to spend more quality time with my family at that time, which was in 2006, so we've come a long way.
The journey
The journey so far has been challenging, because most companies have just come out of lockdown. The funding aspect has also made it really challenging, because we are a childcare training organisation, so we were not able to get the funding we needed, or all the grants and loans that were available from the government.
So for us, the challenge is getting funding and finding the space to provide childcare that is affordable for parents and families.
The growth curve
Our growth curve has been very temperamental because childcare, education, and training are all about passion, and you are competing with the big establishments of educational organisations and businesses that have backing from the government, the Department of Social Security, and the Department of Education.
So, having to maintain ourselves in the industry and remain relevant has really changed.
In essence, our growth has been very temperamental. I think because of the passion I have as a director, and having been in the field for such a long time, has kept us going. I would've otherwise just said - we are not doing this anymore - but finding new ways to remain relevant is what made us stay.
Challenges
The biggest challenge so far has been finding venues and flexible spaces to provide childcare. We also face high rent and business rates, and we are in a sector that is regulated by Ofsted and health and safety legislation, so we have to ensure that we are abiding by that.
That has been very challenging for us, which is why we have spent so many years looking for the right space to provide that flexibility for childcare.
Highlights
It's the flexibility it brings and the different children, families, and practitioners that we work with. Because we are a flexible childcare service, we don't know which child we are going to work with on the day, so it's that flexibility of meeting new people and new children and looking back at some of their pictures and seeing them all as adults today.
I also enjoy it when children come into our space and they see a variety of things they can do, all the activities, and the feedback we get from their parents saying that we'll come back, even though there might not be an opportunity for them to come back. But for us, it's that enjoyment of making sure the children feel safe and welcome, and that they enjoy themselves in the space we provide.
The future
We are continuing to find more spaces to provide flexible childcare for parents, individuals, and companies to have a work-life balance. We want to make sure that whatever space that is, children tell their parents or carers that they want to come back.
So, we want to provide a space where children can use IT facilities if they have homework to do, or want to read educational books, and we want to do that across different countries, because as an educational company, we want to have an impact outside of the UK as well, including Asia and Africa. So that's the future of Planet EMC.
Advice
The advice I would give is to start from where you are, whatever it is you have in your hands. Be it the skills, the relationship, the opportunity - just start.
It's not a road without its challenges, just like in life. We all have challenges in one way or another, but you just have to ensure that you find ways around them, because in business, there's no one path.
Using 1st Formations
We found 1st Formations online and we chose you because the prices were competitive with what was out there. I think we joined 1st Formations just after Covid. We were going through a brand change, we compared prices, and you had what we were looking for at that time.
Your customer service communication is very good across both email and phone. Whenever I call to ask a question, there's always someone there to answer and give us directions when we need a bit more information.
The company formation process
The 1st Formations process was easy. We joined over the phone, we were directed to the website where we filled out the online form, and all the information we needed was readily available on the website. It was really easy to understand, there was no complicated jargon.
We've recommended 1st Formations to other individuals and organisations, because of that easy access to information. I think you get what you pay for, and it says what it does on the tin. There are also no hidden charges, so it's easy to fit it into your budget.
1st Formations today
The services we use with 1st Formations today are the Registered Office Address Service and Business Address Service. We also know that if we want to have a meeting in London, we can book ahead to use your Meeting Rooms to meet with clients.
We've been very happy so far with 1st Formations, which is why we recommended you to other individuals and organisations.
