Building Kidz started in late 2002 out of a need for a mother to care for her child. The founder of Building Kidz, and CEO of Building Kidz Worldwide, Vineeta Bhandari, walked away from her successful career in corporate finance when her 4 year old daughter was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. While her daughter is doing great today and attending college to be a doctor, late 2002 was a stressful time for Vineeta. She took some time off of work and, after a few weeks, she decided to open a preschool so that she could spend more time with her daughter. Within 3 months, the first Building Kidz campus was not only up and running, it was full! While the genesis of her action to start a preschool was to spend time with her daughter, Vineeta learned that she had a deep desire to help children develop during the most critical years of their lives. She realized that educating young children was her true calling in life. She also realized that she needed to double her capacity to satisfy the wait list that was growing, and, more importantly, she needed to be better educated about early childhood education.
Vineeta went back to school and earned a degree in Early Childhood education. While she was earning her degree, Vineeta spent hours reading about different philosophies and the benefits of a quality preschool environment in the development of children. She became deeply interested in the benefits of music and dance on the developing brain, specifically how children between infancy and the age of 5 that are exposed to music and dance on a consistent basis form neurological connections that support enhanced analytical thinking processes in adults. Vineeta went back to the drawing board and designed a program based on the Creative philosophy, focused on the “whole child”, while integrating the performing arts to drive academic excellence.
Children attending Building Kidz campuses began receiving weekly music, dance, theater, and foreign language classes. From the ages of 3 to 6, children were given the opportunity to perform a Broadway style show and a winter recital every year. Additionally, children started learning about science and mathematics through music and dance. Vineeta’s approach to early childhood education not only helped children excel academically and surpass their developmental milestones, it helped them gain confidence.
Our vision is to establish a foundation for a greater society though a global presence of preschools and non-profit partnerships resulting in one million children receiving a world class early childhood education. We launched our Franchise system in January of 2016. To date, we have 13 Franchise Agreements signed and we are expecting another 5 agreements to be signed before the end of 2017. We have 7 Franchised campuses and 2 corporate campuses in operation, and we have franchisees in California, Kentucky, Florida, and Georgia. Additionally, through our “Let’s Give Back Together” program, Building Kidz Worldwide sets aside 25% of our own profits to benefit underprivileged children around the globe. Our franchisees feel the joy of giving back without any requirement to contribute to this fund. Additionally, parents that select Building Kidz for their children are not only making a great decision for their families, they are helping children around the world.