Sira has put innovative concepts for company childcare on the market. They make it worthwhile even for small companies who want to offer their employees real added value. The founders of the non-profit organization, Christina Ramgraber and David Siekaczek, have done their jobs so successfully that they’re set to grow to at least 15 to 20 locations in 2019. Our seven questions for Christina from Sira.
1. Who are you and what do you do? Please briefly introduce yourselves and your service!
We’re ‘Sira Kinderbetreuung’ (Sira Childcare) and what we provide is — surprise — childcare! But we do things a bit differently than others: We usually initiate our projects in cooperation with employers, and to be more exact, with small and medium-sized companies. Our project partners are those for whom company childcare seems much too expensive at first. Our concepts are meant, for example, for startups that don’t have 3,000 employees, but who depend on keeping their colleagues with the company. We conduct our projects with smaller companies that had always wished they could offer their employees childcare, but until now had only known about big, and therefore extremely expensive, company childcare.
So who are we? We’re David Siekaczek, 36 and a business school graduate, and I’m Christina Ramgraber, 37, also a business graduate. We met while working for our previous employer, so we already knew that we’re as different from one another as can be, which also means we complement one another perfectly.
Innovative company childcare for startups
2. But that’s already been done!
Yes, company childcare has been around for a long time, but not in the form that we offer at our Sira locations. There are fortunately a couple others like us as well, which makes us very happy. Nothing is more valuable or interesting than comparing notes and growing the market as a whole together.
3. What are the three main ingredients in your recipe for success?
- The founding team.
- Stubbornness: We share a common objective.
- A clear vision: We know exactly how we want to work together as colleagues — which is also known as “corporate culture.”
4. Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: How is business going?
Since 2017 — when we founded Sira Kinderbetreuung as a non-profit GmbH — we’ve grown from zero to ten locations. We’re going to open another five in 2019: in Munich, Straubing and Cologne. We’re in concrete negotiations about another five for this year. 39 locations are planned by the end of 2020. We’re confident that we’ll achieve that.
“We’ve greatly benefitted from mentoring programs and services for startups”
5. What does Munich mean to you?
Munich, thanks to lots of services for founders, has given us the opportunity to develop. We’ve greatly benefitted from mentoring programs and services for startups, especially from what is offered by the Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) and the Social Entrepreneurship Akademie. Moreover, all of the key associations and the decision makers who are relevant to us can be found here, at least when you’re dealing with a location in Bavaria. There is so much going on here! And that is a very important basis for innovative concepts.
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we be seeing you at an Epic Fail Night soon?
Ah, the unicorn question… we think it’s important that our work plays a role in developing society, promotes understanding between employees and employers and creates joint solutions for everyday challenges faced by families. And of course, it’s good to also benefit everyone financially — and it will! That’s something we’re all certain of as Sira shareholders. But I’ll still come to an Epic Fail Night — after all, there’s always something new to learn!
7. Isar River or the English Garden?
Isar! No question about it!