Are you ready to change the world? An educational franchise that puts practical learning through play at the heart of its program is launching in Australia.

Snapology has been a success in the US and around the world, and now Usman Khan, master franchisor for Australia and New Zealand, hopes to replicate its performance DownUnder.

“We’re looking at the education boom around STEM [science, technology, engineering, maths], a model of education changing around the world,” Khan tells Inside Franchise Business.

He believes the ever-increasing changes to the job scene make this kind of learning vital as it “prepares kids for the world of tomorrow”.

Critical thinking, creativity, teamwork and collaboration are crucial attributes developed by a Snapology program, which can be delivered in schools, at pre-school, or as special events.

The goals are to provide assistance to schools, he says. 

“Schools are left to themselves to do robotics or engineering and we’ve found with our discussions with principals, they have too much on their hands already. The curriculum of play-based learning is a big investment.”

And that’s where Snapology steps in.

“This is a flexible model. We work with some schools during the day where we substitute the science for a Snapology class. It can also be an after-school activity.

“However it’s not limited to schools – we run childcare, vacation programs, some programs for pre-school.”

There are also parents nights out, play groups and birthday parties in the mix.

Experience overseas shows that franchisees love the flexibility of the program choices.

There’s flexibility in the business models available too. A start-up franchise which is a low-cost mobile business can lead to a Mobile Plus option which includes a bricks and mortar space, the Discovery Centre. A new model launched in 2019, in the US and overseas larger territories,  is a mobile bus fitted out as a STEM lab.

Right now however Khan is looking for master franchisees to take one of five state-based regions and recruit franchisees themselves.

“We’ve mapped out the whole of Australia and are offering sub-master franchises for NSW/ACT, VIC/TAS, SA/WA, QLD/NT, NZ.

“Our strategy is to go into each region and find partners to develop each region, with targets,” explains Khan.

He has opened up a Snapology Discover Centre in Sydney and is mapping curriculum to each region across Australia.

The sub-masters will need to consider three factors when setting franchise costs: the size of the population, the number of schools, and the median income. For example, the for NSW/ACT region with 14-15 territories costs around about $300,000.

Snapology joins a growing list of educational franchises in Australia, some of them STEM-based. Khan believes the hard work of accepting the concept has already been done.

“That there are others in the market is an advantage, they have introduced schools to the concept,” he says.

Khan believes this business model takes things further. Snapology runs an anti-bullying program which holds big appeal for schools, he says.

Franchisees don’t need an educational background and are in fact deterred from teaching themselves. The focus is on providing qualified educators to deliver the programs.

“We make it a requirement that every teacher must be a qualified teacher,” Khan says.