Educational franchising represents a unique opportunity for smart, savvy women looking to balance a lucrative, fulfilling career with quality family life.

Are women wired to succeed in business? According to the Entrepreneur’s Source, a US-based business coaching firm, women naturally excel in 3 key skill areas that propel women in business: communication, initiative and emotional intelligence.

These skills are evidenced in the work of Helen Doron, CEO of Helen Doron Group. Doron, a linguistic scientist, has built an international franchise that launched the careers of many women who
also excel in these business skills. The 31-year-old global children’s educational franchise company empowers women and enables them to succeed in business. A glance at the roster of the company shows that 80% of the top management of the company are female, and 70% of the 90 Master Franchisees and 90% of the 880 Learning Centre franchises are owned and run by women. Helen Doron enables entrepreneurs to start their own franchises and join a leading business network with a solid niche in the English-as-a-foreign language industry. The Helen Doron franchise is a proven business model with franchise life cycles among the longest and strongest in the franchise industry.

Being a Helen Doron franchisee provides an ideal situation for mothers committed to spending quality time with their young children, while running a successful business at the same time. Danijela Haralović, National Franchisor for Croatia told us, “One of the most important things in my life over the past 15 months has been the fact that I have a new Helen Doron student under my wing, my baby daughter. Although I know and have learned a lot about Helen Doron students as National Franchisor for Croatia for the past seven years, I really like the opportunity to enjoy Baby’s Best Start as a proud parent, actively participating in my baby’s early English learning experience from age four months.”

Ms. Haralović continued, “I have three children, all of whom are enrolled in Helen Doron English, and I absolutely love seeing how much they have all grown—not to mention the other 3,800 students in Croatia. I now have 60 teachers and I work closely with my franchisees every day to make sure that we only go forward, opening learning centres across the country every year. With that, I am delighted to have created new jobs, helping to reduce unemployment in our country, all while having dedicated and happy teachers who have been part of my team for years. It is easy to be a woman in the Helen Doron world. You get more out of your business life and you can have a wonderful, fulfilling personal life at the same time.”

Alexandra Pickel, Master Franchisor San Marino and Le Marche, Italy enthused, “I found Helen Doron English for my daughters who are bilingual from birth– and how easy it is for them! I opened my own Learning Centre in 2007 when there were no activities offered for small children in my area and nothing to stimulate their intellect. As I saw the success Helen Doron English had with my 1st learning centre, I decided to upgrade to Master Franchisor to develop the Italian region Le Marche. Wonderful achievement, as now we have 17 teachers and 740 students with plans to enter small towns and villages to make Helen Doron English available to everyone in my area!”

Pickel continues, “I love being a Helen Doron Master Franchisor. I am my own boss. I didn’t want to work for somebody else, yet I am still part of an international network and part of a team.  My management style is very hands-on and I work very closely with my franchisees. I view them as responsible, independent business people. The Helen Doron English business model allows you to develop your own style.

What brought me to this business was the opportunity to give something to the community—to promote something intellectual that enhances children’s development. Not only brain development, but also important socialization skills, which learning in small, intimate groups promotes.  I saw this very clearly recently at our summer camp. There was a noticeable difference between the social skills of the children who were exposed to Helen Doron for the first time at camp and our veteran students. So, I am very proud of the positive influence we have on children’s lives.”

Before Claire (Weiqi) Jiang became Helen Doron’s Master Franchisor for Shanghai, China, she dreamed of starting her own business. She majored in English at university, but after graduating, joined BP and worked with the company for seven years. However, her interest in English education never went away and she felt the need to do something valuable within the field of English.

“After my son was born, I decided I wanted to get involved in early education, which I found more exciting than the petroleum industry,” says Jiang.  “I heard about Helen Doron and after some research, I realised it was a fantastic way for children to learn English. The methodology is wonderful. It can really improve how children in China learn to speak the language and I wanted to be involved in bringing the Helen Doron method into China.”

Four years later, Jiang is running a successful Helen Doron Master Franchise in one of the biggest cities in the country. She has five Learning Centres operating in the area, with over 2,000 students benefiting from the courses on a monthly basis.

CEO Helen Doron is understandably delighted with all that has been accomplished thus far. “I am very proud of being a part of so many women’s empowering success stories. It is a win-win situation and while our male franchisees are equally successful, women possess important traits that make their businesses flourish.”

Ms. Doron further elaborated, “Firstly, women excel at multitasking, a vital tool for running any efficient business. Women also seem to be more intuitive than men, or at least more willing to listen to their inner voices. This makes them more sensitive to nuance, picking up those subtle signals, which can be an important information resource in business dealings. Women also tend to be more patient and open to sharing their knowledge with work colleagues, thus expanding and reinforcing their networking system. In some cases, a woman’s more compassionate nature better motivates employees and helps attract customers.”