{"id":7009,"date":"2020-03-07T10:23:18","date_gmt":"2020-03-07T10:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=7009"},"modified":"2020-10-16T10:24:36","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T09:24:36","slug":"little-kickers-champions-international-womens-day-by-celebrating-its-amazing-female-franchisees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/little-kickers-champions-international-womens-day-by-celebrating-its-amazing-female-franchisees\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Kickers champions International Women’s Day by celebrating its amazing female franchisees"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

The franchise’s founder credits the success of the brand to its ability to galvanise an eclectic squad of female entrepreneurs<\/p>\n

On the eve of its 18th anniversary, Little Kickers won not one but two awards at the\u00a0Global Franchise Awards 2020, which for many within the franchising fraternity is the \u201cpinnacle moment\u201d within this fast-moving business sector.<\/p>\n

Here,\u00a0Little Kickers\u00a0founder, Christine Kelly, was asked what aspect of her pioneering business, that\u2019s quickly established itself as the largest global provider of educational football programmes for pre-school children (currently operates in 34 different countries with 330-plus franchises), had made her most proud?<\/p>\n

Kelly\u2019s unequivocal response was the success her business had enjoyed galvanising an eclectic squad of female entrepreneurs (one-third of Little Kickers franchisees are female) from every imaginable country, walk of life and career background to grasp the Little Kickers nettle and create a dynamic financially self-contained business for themselves.<\/p>\n

Little Kickers was conceived by ex-risk manager and new mum Kelly back in 2002 in Clapham as a result of her feeling constantly frustrated by the depressing dearth of activity-orientated initiatives available for inquisitive pre-school children.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt still surprises me,\u201d said Kelly, \u201cthat 18 years down the line and despite all our collective success that many onlookers still perceive Little Kickers to be the perfect part-time work opportunity for a young mum keen to earn a little extra money on the side.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s certainly an amazing diversity of experience within our blossoming squad of franchisee owners, however, it\u2019s worth noting that within our number we have an ex-managing director of an events company, a chartered banker, a university lecturer and professional ballet teacher \u2013 incredible career women who came into the business for a variety of different motives, but who in some instances are generating annual sales in excess of \u00a31m.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicole Robinson explained why she became a franchisee: \u201cI realised that I needed to make some serious career changes having missed out so much on my family life and children growing up. The relentless work schedule and travelling were taking a toll on the family and I craved a better work-life balance. I knew after a year that I\u2019d made the right decision because we were able to get a dog, join a gym, eat together as a family and live a happier and healthier life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe discovered Little Kickers with our children when we lived in Bristol and realised that Chilean children didn\u2019t have the same opportunity, so decided to export the Little Kickers model to South America,\u201d said sisters Carolina Caffarena (a pre-school teacher with more than 20 years working in childhood education) and Paula Caffarena Barcenilla (a PhD history teacher and researcher). \u201cWe believe that children need to learn and play in tandem and need access to \u2018team\u2019 play without needing to compete against one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julia Levene, ex-chartered banker and now Little Kickers franchisee explained: \u201cWhen I had children I thought I could do it all, work full-time, be a hands-on mum and enjoy every special moment, the reality was somewhat different and it took me a little while to accept that a career change was needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the topic of whether Levene had ever experienced any \u2018what do women know about football\u2019 moments, she admits she did early on but that the moment quickly passed as her reputation grew. \u201cFortunately when I look at my children\u2019s generation I see that such attitudes won\u2019t be tolerated and for me, this is real progress,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Lisa Granshaw\u2019s (Brisbane) back story was very different, starting Little Kickers coaching during her first year at university. Granshaw studied sports science and initially spent a few years as a strength and conditioning coach for rugby league teams. \u201cInitially taking on a franchise was daunting, however, I set my initial target to get 50 kids onboard a week which would enable me to pay the rent and feed myself week to week,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was all worth it in the end because I still cherish the moments when a child says their name or gives their first high-five after weeks of silence. Looking forward I\u2019d like to run some classes for disadvantaged kids who aren\u2019t afforded the same life opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

For professional ballet dancer Courtney Lyman (Toronto), Little Kickers was the perfect antidote to her professional ballet career winding down. \u201cTaking on two Little Kicker franchises was perfect for my young family and ultimately resulted in my husband Kevin quitting his corporate career to join me,\u201d she said. \u201cI stand behind my dad\u2019s motto: \u2018Wherever you go, there you are\u2019. In other words, you can\u2019t run away from yourself so you\u2019d better figure out what to do with what you have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little Kickers is an example of a business that appreciates and empowers women in the UK and abroad to shape their careers and celebrate their business acumen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The franchise’s founder credits the success of the brand to its ability to galvanise an eclectic squad of female entrepreneurs On the eve of its 18th anniversary, Little Kickers won not one but two awards at the\u00a0Global Franchise Awards 2020, which for many within the franchising fraternity is the \u201cpinnacle moment\u201d within this fast-moving business […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1285,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-little-kickers","category-childrens-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/littlekickers-franchise-news-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}