Is a franchise for me?

Who are our franchisees?

Kumon franchisees come from a broad range of professional backgrounds. This includes:

banking
teaching
nursing
engineering
medicine
IT
Law
Accounting
business management
childcare
and many more

We've also had franchisees who have previously run their own business, and franchisees who have returned to the workforce after a break.

Research (2014) found that the majority of our new franchisees (those joining Kumon in the previous three years) are generally highly educated when compared to the average Australian and have children in primary school. .

Just like Kumon parents, the most common way that potential Kumon franchisees first hear about Kumon is from satisfied parents of children who have attended a Kumon Centre..

Hear from some of our franchisees

Tim and Sheryl Sharmila Tim

Tim - joined Kumon October 2011
Sheryl - joined Kumon February 2013

Sharmila - joined Kumon July 2014

I trained as a maths teacher and taught maths and physics for several years. I have also worked as a primary school teacher, a vice principal in a private international school and had my own consultancy training students for admissions to UK and US universities.

As a vice principal, I used to do a lot of counselling of parents and students for academic pathways. I think this has helped me a lot with my Centre, which I started in July 2014, as I have been able to understand the psychology of my students and their parents and use this to address their needs. My background has also helped me in my communication with parents, giving them feedback about their children's work and making suggestions about how they can support their children's Kumon study.

In my role as a Kumon franchisee, I am able to work with a team of assistants and help them to become good team members. I show them how to multitask while being calm, composed, and able to give feedback about daily work. My experience as a vice principal has helped me to train my staff to do this.

The most important quality I have gained through my previous experience is the quality of being patient and calm. I feel that this is very important for Kumon franchisees. I am training my staff to be calm and composed even when faced with challenges, because if we are calm, we can find solutions to problems.

Tim - joined Kumon October 2011

I started as a Kumon franchisee in 2011 and in this time have thoroughly enjoyed my role. Prior to Kumon I worked in a number of different industries. I've had a range of teacher and training roles over the years, both teaching of children and training of adults. I worked in document management as well as the aviation industry training people how to fly. I had management roles in some of these industries.

While the teaching and training background has definitely been an advantage for me at Kumon, some of the other roles in management and administration have also been an advantage. When running a Kumon Centre you're not only instructing students, you're running a business, so it helps if you have some relevant skills. Our Centre is open three or four hours per day, four days a week, but we also do a lot of work outside of those times. I think my operations management background in particular has helped me with the activities I do outside of instructing students. As a Kumon franchisee you need to interview, employ and train staff, enter monthly reports, deal with taxation issues, manage a team, and more. We spend a fair bit of time outside of class time on those activities.

For potential franchisees considering Kumon, I'd say, don't worry too much if you feel your experience in one particular area is lacking - if you're passionate about making a difference to the lives of children and you have some business experience, Kumon could be a good fit for you!