Mama Bear Child Care was founded five years ago by Mylene Bartolome, Antonette Evangelista, Mary Rose Ang and Analyn Ramos. The four worked on the idea of forming a business based on the emerging needs to help the working mothers or often called “mamas” Mama was the acronym taken from their names.
After graduation Mylene Antonette Mary Rose and Analyn created a partnership and launched their venture leasing the condominium unit of Mylene in Makati. From the initial of four children of their friends working in Makati, the business, grew to 50 due to referrals from satisfied clients using the word of mouth. The company’s services are customized, with affordable rates. The target market identified to be working parents aged between 25 to 45 years old, who are employed in Makati offices with household income of atleast 25,000
They targeted and negotiated with companies in the Makati Business District which have no day care centers. Based on the report of the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women, 59% of their total workforce are female. Women typically handle more of the care giving responsibilities for families and are more often affected at work due to these responsibilities. While there are 25% men who are particularly involved with making child care arrangements. Therefore, Mama Bear would like to exploit the opportunity of addressing the work/life issues for both women and men.
The partners felt that with the demand for child care services steadily increases as more and more women enter the work force, giving up the traditional role of full-time mother and homemaker. As of 2004, 60% working mothers in both single and two parent household constitute the fastest growing segment of the paid work force. Many parent employees are worried, concerned or thinking about their children so frequently that it negatively impacts their work productivity. Over the last 30 years, economic need began to force families to rely on two sources of salaries. These significant changes in the family dynamic, such as dual income families, single parent families and the declining extended family have also dramatically increased the demand for quality childcare.
Using the networked digital cameras in the wall of every classroom and at reasonable prices, Mom and Dad can have hourly. In some cases minutely monitoring, which offers a unique way of connecting with their precious little angles. It will utilize technology that allows parents to drop-in on their children via Web and internet based check in
The parents tested their ideas as a project in their new enterprise subject and created a feasibility plan. The Mama Bear Center is a child on cam with advanced and quality childcare services that would need parents’ needs. This will be tie second home of the children ages from three months to four years. Alalyn, a special education teacher and is the experienced and child care specialist, developed the childcare program and approaches including the computer software that will make the Center a dwelling place in enhancing the social and emotional growth as well as the development of both physical and intellectual skils.
STEADY GROWTH
In their second year of operation, more companies such as PLDT, Philippine Stock Exchange, Citibank, HSBC, and BPI commercial bank became their institutional partners because under the collective bargaining agreement, employees’ children will be provided with day care facilities benefit. This prompted Mama Bear to lease another condominium unit of Mylene also in Makati City as a additional venue.
The company’s workforce has continued to grow during the past three years. In addition the company through a Memorandum of Agreement has tied up with St. Lukes Hospital- Fort Bonifacio for emergency cases, Globe Telecom for their on-line day care and SM Superstore for the supplies requirements.
For the last three years, the partners are getting stronger, and the success story is based on attitude, hardwork and frugality. They have each earned six figure salaries and bonuses. While they have been putting in incredible hours, they are making more money than they ever dreamed of at this stage. Further, they have paid off their original loans and have improved their cash flow position. At this juncture, Mylene broached the idea to the partners about the possibility of expansion since they have access to a sizeable credit line by capturing another market segment. Those parents who use the MRT as means of transportation in coming to/from their respective offices, both to/from south bound terminals. They need to get the nod of the management of MRT and SM as the proposed venue. During the meeting, it created the first serious disagreement among three partners. Each has a quite different view on how to capitalize further on their current success. Their thinking are outlined as follows:
Mary Rose’s Plan:
“I want us to keep doing what we are doing now because we are in charge and of course, no bureaucracy. We have the advantage of running our business privately that is not under pressure to grow at a certain pace or to declare dividends. We don’t have to answer to anybody except ourselves or, the hiring of securities analysts analyzing our margins every time. Yes, I agree, we have hundreds of working parents as prospects. Mama Bear can make a name for itself as a player but not necessarily to be a major player. Besides, I am already emotionally attached to the children and looking for other prospects would be hard for me. To expand would mean increasing number of owners and designing new organizational structure.”
“Please take note further that in a bustling metropolis as the Makati district, individuals have to be ‘in’ with various technological innovations not only to improve our business processes, systems and operations but also to lure prospective clients. To embark, on any business carries with it the challenge of upgrading its technology to compete with competitors. Our child care center must not only have an atmosphere of comfort and safety but must also be conducive to learning equipped with the latest fads where little minds are being given a chance to learn and explore but not missing one of the joys of childhood. If we cant meet these, parents would never be persuaded to enroll their kids. Moreover, many working parents may opt to delegate the task of child rearing to their relatives living with them or even to household helpers. Besides, this is an additional investment to be poured and I have no extra money.
Mylene’s Plan:
“ I find appealing in what Mary Rose says, but her approach has a number of flaws. While I’m not nuts about trying to keep up this pace, I can handle it. What I cant handle is the realization that we may be giving up millions. We have a winning formula but we must leverage our time and capitalize on it. Secondly, if we don’t build a bigger, stronger organization fast, we may not only lose opportunities but the whole business program. A few “copycats” have already tried to imitate our approach in Ortigas Business Center and are using it with some success. Unless we get bigger and stronger so that we can offer better service at lower price, we will lose what we have now. I want us to be a corporation and sell up to 40% of our stock to either a venture capitalist or to the public. I am sure we can raise enough money to operate not only on a larger scale, but also a lot more professionally and not to have to kill ourselves in the process. With a larger organization, we can look for more market opportunities and further exploits our potentials. Lastly we have to admit that we don’t have as much bargaining power with suppliers and customers as a big player.”
“Based on the result of the survey conducted which I commissioned; of the total number of daily MRT commuters of 22,875, it was established that there were 58% parents with four years old and below and have an average of two kids.”
ANTONETTES’S PLAN
“Mylene may be right. I am presently satisfied that our business has been steadily growing. I guess, however, I simply lack the foresight and the inside information of the total market potential to head-on address growth and expansion opportunities in the metropolitan area. If we expand, there could be a possibility of losing out to competition in the process if it continuously keeps itself voluntarily blind and numb of significant market data relevant to its business. Therefore, the selling of our company would relive me from further stress and we should do it immediately before our imitators out-compete us.”
“I would like to raise my concern on the partners’ delineation of duties and responsibilities, given our business set up. There were many instances that Mylene, being the managing partner has the tendency to over manage. I understand that we may have different ideas evolving, however, what I cannot fathom is that Mylene may commit an “ultra vires act which to me did not inure to the benefit of the partnership
ANALYN’S PLAN:
“I knew from the very start, how competitive the business is. It is my utmost dream to further establishing Mama Bear beyond the reach of competition, by way of better customer reach and coverage through establishing more centers, and making each client satisfied. Th thought of adding more centers would mean adding more personnel. Thereby, contributing to the solution of the country’s unemployment rate which rose to 8% in April this year from 7.5% in the same period last year which menas 3.1 million Filipinos who had no jobs based on the latest survey by the NSO. However, we have been experiencing exodus of qualified employees in exchange for greener pastures” With the increasing demands of living, our newly hired employees use our company for their advantage to gain experience and training. A hiatus is then created. Usually the ones left behind to assume temporarily the vacant roles of these resigned employees are rookies who have just yet to know the operation of the company. Further we have been criticized by Mr. Sonny Angara that we have been active in helping others through Gawad Kalinga but not looking at the concern of our employees’ welfare, mostly contractuals for not being given their overtime pay and meal allowances for their extra hours”
The partners ended their meeting with mo specific curse of action to take. They agreed to meet next month to have more time to study and thresh out possibly their differeces because it will have business repercussions.

COMPETITION
Within the targeted area, there is one child care at the mall, the Kids at Work which is located at the 3rd floor of Glorietta Makati City. Kids at Work can accommodate as much as 50 children aged 5-12 years old. And if below four years old, these children should have a companion that will also pay for the entrance feee. Its peak days are during weekends from 10am to 7:45 pm when the children are dropped off by parents for them to go shopping and malling. Moreover, a total of 24 with early formal education settings is considered the indirect competitors, with 2-3 hours of classes a day from 7am to 2 pm
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Most of the businesses with global activities are seemingly adjusted to the effect of the collapse of the world’s biggest banks and lending institutions last quarter of 2008 due to the failure of the sub-prime mortgage market in the US wherein the global economic foundations were shaken to the core. Further, the country’s inflation of 4.2 percent is meant to spur economic growth, especially last year when most countries worldwide experienced a contraction or a slow down.