FAQs-DALIMSS Sunbeam SCHOOL FRANCHISE
Qualification
Q. Do you also provide any funding facility and at what cost?
A. No, we don’t provide funding from our side, but we do have tie-ups with financial institutions. However, the financing will be at the sole discretion of the funding institution and the rate of interest applicable would be determined by the agency only.
Q. I currently own a school, but I am interested in turning it into a DALIMSS Sunbeam School so that I may benefit from your brand, system
A. Absolutely, if you are interested in converting an operating school into DALIMSS Sunbeam, simply fill out the Questionnaire to get started.
Q. Does our Trust/Society need any experience in the education field?
A. No prior experience is required as our training and support Programmes will provide you with all that you need to run your school.
Q. Is it necessary that the school be run by a society or can it be run by an individual?
A. The school has to be run under a non-profit trust (minimum 2 members) or society (minimum 7 members).
Investment
Q. Are there any other hidden costs?
A. Absolutely not, we have transparent policies and there is no hidden cost.
Q. Is it possible to start with a low investment? We are considering a low investment initially and wish to expand slowly based on
A. No, the reason being that if you don’t invest properly upfront, people will return disappointed and later no matter how much you spend on advertising , people will not change their perception easily. Hence it is important that when you launch the branch you create the hype and then live up to the people's expectation as they come to visit the DALIMSS Sunbeam branch. However you can construct the school in phases, but whatever is constructed should be up to DALIMSS Sunbeam Standards.
Q. Why is there large cost variation?
A. Each potential location is different and has different characteristics. Land size, dimensions, location, economic status of the area, density of population, can individually or together affect the cost of opening a school. The exact amount of investment will be decided after a market study of the paying potential of the local area and what other schools are offering and charging.
Q. How much construction will we be doing initially?
A. The maximum construction depends on the local laws. We shall aim to maximize our constructed area to build more facilities and accommodate more children. Initially we shall go in for construction of 30,000 sq ft of area which should accommodate 500-600 children and should be adequate for 2 years. Then construction of further phases can be done every 2 years.
Q. What will be our investment and the cost of construction?
A. Initially the cost of construction can ranges from 800 onwards Rs per sq ft (including furniture and interiors) depending on the fee that is being targeted in the school. We should be able to secure bank funding for a majority of this amount. Hence to start a school you need the land and some working capital.
Q. What would be the investment amount?
A. The initial investment amount is decided after studying the potential of the area - the number of students the school is targeting and the fee structure that can be expected. Based on this we do a reverse calculation to arrive at an investment amount. In addition, a certain amount has to be invested in advertising and as working capital for the first couple of years.
Q. Do you also provide any funding facility and at what cost?
A. No, we don’t provide funding from our side, but we do have tie-ups with financial institutions. However, the financing will be at the sole discretion of the funding institution and the rate of interest applicable would be determined by the agency only.
Q. Can the investment be made in phases? How?
A. The investment in infrastructure is made at the time of construction and the remaining investment is required as working capital for the first couple of years. The construction will be in phases and further investment will occur as these phases advance.
Franchise License Fee
Q. Any minimum amount to be paid annually?
A. Yes, There is a fixed License fee to be paid every year in the month of April.
Q. Is the royalty payable on revenues or on net income? What is the frequency of payments?
A. Royalty is to be paid on revenue and is paid to DALIMSS Sunbeam Educomp Limited and is settled quarterly.
Q. What Sign-up fee/ Set-up fee do we have to pay in the beginning? Is it refundable?
A. The Franchise sign-up fee is Rs 50,000 and initial set-up fee is Rs 1.5 Lacs. This amount is payable at the time of signing the agreement and is strictly non-refundable.
Q. When is the license fee to be paid to you?
A. The first year’s license fee is to be paid at the time of signing of agreement along with one time sign-up fee & Set-up fee, how-ever in subsequent years’ license fee is to be paid at the beginning of the academic session i.e. in the month of April;
Q. Is it compulsory that the land should be owned or rented?
A. No, you may lease it. The lease has to be irrevocable and for minimum 35 years.
Q. In city land is expensive and scarce how far we can go out of city?
A. The thumb rule is that the further you go from the city, the larger the area should be as you are competing with schools in the city. Hence your disadvantage in terms of location should be compensated with more land and therefore more facilities
Q. How much space is required and of what kind? -Residential, Agricultural, Institutional or Commercial?
A. Any amount of space will do as, long as it is allowed by the local civic authorities or conversion is permitted
Q. Would you help in locating a suitable place to start the school?
A. Yes, once the agreement is signed, a site selection professional will work with you, as well as with local brokers or developers to evaluate sites in your market and help identify a proper location for your new school.
Q. What is an ideal location for a DALIMSS Sunbeam school? What is the criterion for approval of location?
A. The branch can be situated at any good location where students have easy access to the school. There are various criteria like land size, accessibility, visibility, neighborhood, lease rental to be paid (if leased), competition etc.
Starting the School
Q. what will happen during this period?
A. Several major tasks are orchestrated in parallel. You obtain the furniture, attend your training program and obtain other educational equipment. At the same time, pre-marketing is conducted in your area using various forms of advertising media. At the same time you shall be making preparations for the implementation of the Marketing Plan designed by our marketing staff for your school. We manage this process with checklists and active support in order to get you started as soon as possible.
Q. Till what class will we start in the first year?
A. Initially we shall admit children up to class 5th and year by year progress to class 12th. To admit children to class 9th -one must have affiliation to a school board and the process takes 2-3 years and we keep 1 year as a buffer incase of any administrative delays.
Q. How long will it take to open a school?
A. It depends upon the quality and condition of the existing infrastructure. Accordingly, it may take from 2 months - 12 months.
Q. Does a school require a license? How can I get the recognition from CBSE board?
A. The school will require recognition from the state government and affiliation from CBSE. We shall guide you through the process.
Q. What board will be affiliating to (ICSE or CBSE or IB or IGCSE)?
A. The school shall be affiliated to CBSE board.
Q. Will you help me to construct the building?
A. The construction of the school will be as per the specifications of our architect.
Q. How much does training cost?
A. The cost of the initial training is included within the License Fee. The only items not covered are your own travel, accommodation and food expenses. Further training may be chargeable.
Q. How will I learn to run my school?
A. In addition to the manuals, we have created a training programme and give you hands-on experience that will teach you to run your school. We will also host an annual conference, which will bring associates together to discuss opportunities to improve skills and share best practices. It will allow us to communicate with all our branches about various school issues and operational improvements.
Q. Will DALIMSS Sunbeam provide qualified teachers? What would be the salary and remunerations of the staff?
A. The quality of staff will have a great impact on the quality of education offered in the school. Hence it is crucial that we personally supervise the recruitment process to attract the best possible talent. The teachers and other staff have to be recruited at a local level and we do assist the franchisee at the time of recruitment and training of staff. The number of staff members will be decided keeping in mind the response to the admissions. Their salary will be governed by the market , but in no case will it be less than government/CBSE scales.
Q. Can I offer additional services at the school location such as sports coaching, tuitions and hobby classes?
A. Some of these are wonderful "value-added" services. If you have the space in your location for these services and you are licensed to provide them or you would like to employ or contract with people who are licensed to provide these services, you may go ahead with our permission. We reserve the right to approve any proposed additional services and require all applicable licenses, should we grant approval
Q. What is our working?
A. You will be responsible for the day to day administrative responsibilities of running the school.
Q. How much involvement will I need to commit to the school, as a franchisee?
A. Most of the day-to-day communication can be directly between the school principal and us. However, as with any other organization, you will need to recruit & manage your staff, monitor the financials and look after some administration work as well.
Q. Does DALIMSS Sunbeam provide the books, study material, uniform, etc., or do we have to organize the material locally?
A. Yes, DALIMSS Sunbeam provides the books, uniform, study material like worksheets etc. and you don’t have to procure the things locally. We will have our own suppliers and you have to buy the prescribed books and uniforms from them. For other school requirements, we have a recommended list of suppliers, but you are free to have local suppliers if they work out to be cheaper, provided the quality is up to the mark and approved by us.
Q. Can I get a loan for this project?
A. Yes, you should be able to secure funding – subject to eligibility
Q. How many students can the school expect?
A. We do not provide any projections or authorize anyone else to provide this information, because this number can fluctuate a lot. Your school strength will depend on a number of factors, such as geography, competition, investment, site location, size, your local market, your advertising & promotional efforts, your working acumen, current economic conditions and how well you run your school according to the specified Standard Operating Procedures and many other factors. Because of these variables, there is a wide range in the number of students you might expect.
Q. How much will it cost per month to run such a school?
A. The amount can be devised from calculating teachers’ salaries, salaries of other staff members such as Principal, Administration, Accounts, Security Guards, Drivers, Attendants etc., Electricity Bills, Telephone Bills, Property Tax, Maintenance of Building, Marketing & Advertisement Expenses.
Q. What fee will be charged from the parents?
A. Our school fee structure consists of the Registration Fee, Admission Fee, Annual Charges, and Monthly Fee. We do not have a fixed fee structure as the cost structure (population, paying capacity, salaries, real estate costs, local market conditions, running expenses, cost structures, amount of investment done) vary between city to city and within cities as well. Similarly on the revenue side, the paying potential is different for different areas. So, we fix the fee in consultation with the franchisee keeping in mind all the above factors. The right fee can be set with a combination of our experience and your local knowledge.
Agreement
Q. How long is the term of a Franchise Agreement?
A. The agreement will be for 12 years renewable mutually after that.
Do you grant exclusive territories?
A. We believe our model is robust enough to be able to operate successfully in a wide variety of locations and demographics, it would be near impossible to create a set of one-size fits all restrictions that would be fair to both our associates and to us. For example, one city might be able to easily accommodate 5 schools in a 10 km radius, while another suburban town could accommodate 2 schools and yet another area might only be able to accommodate a single school over 3 or 4 towns. It is critical that both our associates and we have the freedom to grow intelligently and respectfully and make decisions based on information provided on a case-by-case basis. Because of all of this, we believe the fairest way to approve a new branch is to assess each location as it is proposed to us, based on a variety of factors and approve locations that we believe will allow for maximum opportunity for success. It is our goal to sell territories that are large enough for you to
realize your full growth potential, but not so large that potential students are not served adequately. However, we do give you an exclusive radius of 5 kms within which we shall not open another DALIMSS Sunbeam branch.
Growth
Q. Can I start more than one franchise?
A. Yes, you can start more than one franchise but we would advise you to start the second about 6 months after the first one, as you should be giving your full efforts to kick-start the first one.
Q. Do you offer a master franchise or something or you just have unit franchise?
A. Yes we do give unit as well as master franchisee.