byIn a sector often overlooked when it comes to business acumen and leadership, Karen Clince has built Tigers Childcare from a north Dublin after-school club to an international group. In this interview, written in collaboration with The Currency, she talks to Leonie Corcoran about the reality of international expansion and the optimism needed to come through the pandemic.
When we speak again a few weeks later, she reiterates her point. “I know everyone says they weren’t expecting [to win such an award], but I genuinely was not expecting it. In my industry, you never expect to get these kinds of business awards, because even though your business is incredibly strategic to the economy, it’s such an evolving industry that it’s often not seen as ‘business’ as such,” she says.“I think for a long time, people in this sector were seen kind of like babysitters.
“I know my strengths and I know where they are not. So, when we got to a stage of significant potential growth in the years after that, we needed to bring in additional skills and we did.” The group is now run by a board and the executive team meet every Tuesday to discuss key decisions.secured €5 million debt finance from DunPort Capital in 2020, which fuelled expansion across Ireland and into the UK, and since a €10.
“Wages are rising due to increased competition to attract and retain qualified staff, yet under the scheme we are precluded from increasing fees from pre-Covid levels to meet these costs. If the government does not act fast to take a proper look at the situation on the ground and commit to fully understanding what is needed to help the sector, hundreds of settings will close,” she says.
“We’re very lucky now: we’ve a fantastic manager, fantastic assistant manager and a really low colleague turnover, but it was two-and-a-half hard years to get there.” She currently spends a week in Ireland and a week in the UK.