A vision that began over a coffee date, where four Gqeberha women decided to offer a one-stop shop to help children grow and flourish, has resulted in the first multidisciplinary paediatric centre of its size and scope in Nelson Mandela Bay.
The Play Pod, the umbrella under which Heath and Celliers Speech and Language Therapy and Audiology, Lucy McNaughton Remedial Therapy, The Mouse House and Nicole Schroeder Physiotherapy are practising, offers a place where children are treated as more than just their diagnosis.
Please share how the business was started?
We have all been running separate practices in different aspects of paediatric healthcare as a focus point and together we joined forces — that is where it all began.
What is your core service?
The Play Pod offers these services, mostly paediatric, but not limited to: Dietetics, physiotherapy, psychology, remedial therapy, speech and language therapy and audiology.
What makes your business unique?
The Play Pod is the first multidisciplinary paediatric centre of its magnitude in the city of Gqeberha.
It is a centre that has the wellbeing of children at its core.
We provide a welcoming environment where children will flourish and where their parents will feel that their kids are being treated as more than just their diagnosis.
If someone wanted to copy your business model, how would they start?
It’s rather interesting when four women with strong personalities come together to make decisions, so we challenge any strong women out there to give it a bash.
What are some of the biggest inhibitors your business faced before getting off the ground?
Lift-off was really a massive team effort.
We had a challenge with deciding the name and logo design, but everyone involved was so great.
We have worked so well together and have really just linked arms and run with all the ups and the downs.
Do you have any tips for budding entrepreneurs or new business owners?
Follow your dreams. Take the leap and save lots of money where possible.
Find yourself a team that supports you and lean on them when things get tough.
Don’t be scared to ask for help, make lists and get things done.
What are some of your biggest challenges in day-to-day operations and your particular industry?
Covid-19 has been interesting in the field of healthcare, but we have made it work.
What is the best advice anyone gave you on success?
Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life. Enjoying what you do is one of the key factors to becoming successful.
How do you measure or define success in your business?
We define success by the objective progression of our patients in our respective fields.
Bottom lines are always important in any business, and one can never deny that financial success is always a plus, but as healthcare workers our main focus is the patient and their families.
What kind of advertising do you do?
The practices involved all use multiple social media platforms as our main form of advertising.
What is your company’s vision?
The Play Pod’s vision is to help children grow and flourish, to feel confident and to believe in themselves.
We want to help those who are abled and differently abled to live life to the full and with the best possible quality of life.
What is your target market?
Our main focus is paediatric healthcare, but is not limited to this particular market.
What have some of your highlights been in running your business?
We love what we do because not only do we get to change the lives of children, but they change ours and teach us new things every day.
We get to see real magic happen daily.
How important is social media and an online presence for your business?
Social media has become one of the most powerful tools in reaching society.
It is therefore very important that our businesses have a strong social media presence.
How many people do you employ?
The Mouse House has three professionals — Sue Rist, Lorryn Herbst and Maggie Blom.
Heath and Celliers consists of Jana Heath, Liani Celliers, Jessica Hazell and Tayla Barr.
Lucy McNaughton’s is a new business and only consists of the owner.
Nicole Schroeder Physiotherapy has two therapists — Nicole Schroeder and Petronell Clarke.
Do you have any plans for expanding the business, and how would you go about this?
We would absolutely love to expand in the future.
When it comes to our patients, we are always looking out for their best interests, so the more services we can offer under one roof the better.
This will allow for continuity of treatment and help parents out with travel time.
How did you acquire funding for the business?
Hard work and the bank.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt from your business journey so far?
Hard work is the only path to success.
The practices that have joined forces are no strangers to hard work and we continue to strive for excellence.
What have been the greatest challenges and advantages of running your business in a city like Gqeberha?
It has been a privilege to start such a business in the city of Gqeberha. We believe it is an advantage that ours is the first of its kind in the city.
We have done well up until this point as individual businesses, and now we have just placed ourselves in a whole new league by coming together.
What do you say are the three key traits of a successful entrepreneur?
Flexibility, creativity and adaptability.
What do you say are the key traits of a successful employer?
Fairness, respect, empowerment and transparency.
What do you wish people knew about your industry?
We wish the public knew that there is help for their children.
Children should be afforded the best possible chance at life and the fact that your child is different does not make you a bad parent or mean that anything is “your fault”.
We should all try to end the stigma that therapy is taboo.
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