Sybrina Ignatieva

Yokohama (JPN)
Role(s):
Founder/Owner/Principal

tinyHappy International

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Location: Yokohama
Industry: Education
Year Founded: 2014
Number Employees: 1-10 people
Business Stage: Growth (profitable)
Entity Type: Sole Proprietorship
Description: Dear potential investors, My name is Sybrina Ignatieva-Wada. I am from Upstate New York, but have been living in Japan for the past 10 years. In 2014 I opened my own international school here in Yokohama, Japan, and my business has grown steadily over the past four years. My goal is to purchase a property here in Yokohama to be used as the permanent home for my school. First and foremost, I am truly passionate about teaching children. I enjoy everyday working with the young students and their families and have created many fond memories as well as long-lasting relationships. I have an energetic and fun-loving teaching style. I love providing creative and exciting new experiences and challenges to my students and I devote a large part of our day to music and art activities. It brings me such joy to watch my students grow, and follow their achievements, knowing that I am making a positive difference in their lives! I hold a Master's Degree in T.E.S.O.L (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and have over 10 year's teaching experience. Since 2008 I have been living and working in Japan at several different private schools that use various teaching methods, including the Montessori method and Reggio-Emilia approach. Two of the schools I previously worked at were new schools; still in their first year of operation. Besides teaching a preschool class daily, I preformed several other duties, including curriculum planning, event/field trip excursions, brand development, and marketing/attracting new clients. In the term of a one-year contract I can proudly say that I helped both schools reach full capacity! I have confidence that I can do the same for my own venture. In Japan there is a strong demand for preschool/kindergarten education. By law, formal education is not required until the age of six, but Japanese parents are always seeking extra education programs for their children, especially in English, and almost always enroll their child(ren) in a daycare or private kindergarten. The public schools here fill quickly and are extremely difficult to get into. Families often wait years on waiting lists and there is simply not enough schools operating to meet the demand. Because of my time and experiences in Japan I know the market well and noticed the nation-wide need for English schools that use a method that returns quality results. Having obtained my Bachelor's Degree in business management, I excel in team leadership, communication, and financial management. I also have a secondary Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education; adding to my wealth of knowledge in the field. In the summer of 2014, I followed my dream and opened tinyHappy Garden International School - a complete English Immersion International Preschool and Kindergarten in Yokohama - using an exciting and innovative curriculum I created myself from more than 10 years' teaching and musical experience. I began with only one student in one class and expanded to over 30 students in 4 different classes. The lease of the current space I am renting will finish because the owner would like to sell the property. I have decided not to buy it, and instead have found an amazing location for the school much closer to the train station, with enough space to offer us large potential growth/expansion in the future. I have also been approved for a loan to purchase this space, but am in need of a 20% cash down payment. I have approximately 10% of the down payment in savings, and am therefore hoping to find an investor who can help me with the remainder of the down payment. I am prepared to invest my own capital into my business, but I need the extra resources to make my dream come to fruition. It would be amazing to relocate the school and provide a wonderful space for learning to my students! I hope to hear from you soon. I can't wait to embark on this new adventure! Best regards, Sybrina Ignatieva-Wada