INTERVIEW WITH NICOLE MAASSAB.
Vice President-Academics of Key Nursery Group and Claire Maassab Nurseries
*Interview conducted by Marie-Christine Tayah
-HOW DID IT ALL START?
Claire Maassab Nursery began in 1981 by my mother, Claire Maassab, a woman who had a deep passion for nurturing and educating children. At that time, Lebanon was in the midst of conflict and political turmoil but that did not stop Claire from following her dream and setting up a nursery. Even prior to establishing her nursery, caring for children was always her calling and Claire was known for spontaneous acts of nurturing wherever she went. For example, she would happily volunteer to care for the children of neighbors and friends whenever possible. She was most fulfilled when she had an opportunity to distract children from the ugliness that surrounded them, and provide meaningful learning experiences that engaged their mind and helped to prepare them for their life ahead.
Today, after more than 30 years in operation, with half of it under my leadership, we have positively touched the lives of more than 6,000 children. Moreover, Claire Maassab’s Nursery has evolved into the Key Nursery Group which provides children at three nurseries in two countries with a time-tested, trilingual education.
My many years at the nursery have enabled me to develop the Key System® curricula, along with our team of education experts. Together, we carefully selected educational methods that follow worldwide best practices in early childhood education. The curricula of the Key System® is delivered by having children with varying abilities and interests work together in small groups on projects that provoke children’s creative thinking and problem-solving abilities and allow different possibilities of exploration, enabling children to develop skills in a variety of areas.
-WOULD YOU SAY YOUR BUSINESS BORN OUT OF PASSION?
Indeed, our network of nurseries is a direct result of the passion of Claire Maassab who was dedicated to nurturing and caring for children. Despite the conditions and hardships at the beginning, she never gave up on her nursery because of her deep commitment to taking care of children and giving them the best possible start to their young lives.
Today, our nurseries bring onboard staff and educators who all share a similar passion, which ensures that our mission and vision are carried out each and every day.
-WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES YOU FACED?
In the early days, we certainly had some challenges due to war and the instability of the country, but that is what makes our story beautiful. We were able to create a respected nursery from scratch, despite all odds against us. More importantly, we were able to provide children with a safe and caring environment even with such chaos around us.
Personally, I faced a major challenge and an opportunity simultaneously when my mother passed away 15 years ago and I had to lead the nursery at the age of 24. I was able to handle that situation in large part to our staff at the nursery who all played a role to keep the nursery going successfully.
Today’s challenges are different. We mainly tackle ways to provide children with a relevant learning experience that matches the needs of the ever-changing world and to ensure that our curricula is constantly reviewed and updated to reflect new research related to enhancing early childhood education. Another challenge we have faced, especially while operating in the UAE, is how to best cater to children with different nationalities and backgrounds. The Key System® addresses these challenges by promoting diversity as well as by encouraging language development through its full-immersion curriculum in English, French, and Arabic.
In addition to education-related challenges we also had to tackle going from a family business to a really structured business model. While it has been a challenging transition, it has also been rewarding to organize and streamline our operations.
-WHAT KEPT YOU GOING?
It goes back to the passion of Claire Maassab and her team of devoted educators and staff members. They all shared a similar vision as well as a passion to nurture children, which is instilled in every team member of the Key Nursery Group.
In addition, we all have a shared belief that a child’s most critical time for brain development is between birth and five years of age. As such, we do everything we can to make sure we are giving our children rich learning experiences to capitalize on this important timeframe. Keeping this concept in mind, and knowing the vital role we play, allows us to continue with our efforts
What also keeps us going today is our expansion and growth plans which will allow more students to experience the Key System®. It’s an exciting time to be where we are and we are hopeful about our future. As you can see, our past and our bright future keep us going every day.
-WHO ARE YOU THANKFUL TO?
I am grateful to our team of educators and staff members who help the nurseries run smoothly and successfully. I am also thankful for the children’s parents who have such confidence in us and all our children who make our days more exciting and brighter. I am also grateful to Joe Boulad, Claire’s husband and business partner, who is a major part of our nurseries’ operations today, and has helped tremendously with our expansion efforts. Lastly, I am thankful for my friends and supporters who believe in the nurseries and what they aim to do.
-HOW DID YOU MOVE FROM A SMALL SCALE ENTERPRISE TO A BIGGER MODEL AND THEN TO THE REGIONAL LEVEL?
Earlier this year we decided we were ready to expand beyond Lebanon. We entered a joint venture with Ampersand Holding, a company that has given us the additional educational, business development, and regional expertise needed to realize our dreams. It also allowed us to being operating our nurseries under three different models: fully-owned nurseries, joint venture nurseries, and nurseries fully managed by us.
Most importantly, this partnership with Ampersand Holding has culminated in the creation of the Key Nursery Group and has enabled us to expand to the UAE, with further expansion to other countries currently under negotiation. Our UAE locations are set in Dubai where we recently fully acquired a reputable nursery and are opening another very soon there. In addition, we plan to expand to Abu Dhabi in the near future.
All the Key Nursery branches in Dubai offer the same benefits of the Claire Maassab Nursery branches. They feature a child-friendly environment based on the time-tested Key System® that combines distinguished educational approaches to promote the cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development of every child, which is monitored by regular
