Elaine Sagar has built a fast-growing early years business, supporting around 180 children a day across two nurseries in Greater Manchester.聽
The founder and CEO of Sunflower Childcare Group says one setting cares for roughly 70 children and the other around 110 – with 67 staff employed across the nurseries.聽
Alongside this, Sagar has begun moving into residential care, with a children鈥檚 home team of seven in place as she explores growth beyond early years.
She鈥檚 clear, though, that her job isn鈥檛 to run rooms day-to-day.聽
鈥淢y role is I go in once a week, and I meet and I direct my senior leadership team,鈥� she tells 老九品茶Cloud.聽
鈥淢y ops director runs a lot of the day-to-day for me.鈥�
From hairdressing to childcare
Sagar doesn鈥檛 present herself as a typical childcare founder.聽
鈥淚鈥檓 basically a hairdresser,鈥� she says, explaining that she has experience lecturing on hairdressing rather than early years.
She describes three phases that shaped the way she now leads Sunflower: entrepreneurship and teaching in hairdressing; international auditing work assessing quality in hospitality; and education and childcare.
She explains: 鈥淭he skills that I鈥檝e got from those three areas have come together to make me what I am now really.鈥�
The personal driver
Sagar first became involved in education in 2008 through her son鈥檚 independent school, which went into receivership.
She bought it out with a partner who owned the building – then quickly realised their intentions didn鈥檛 align.
After later buying herself out of the partnership, a major personal event became her motivation.聽
鈥淚 lost my son in 2010 when he was in an accident,鈥� she says.
鈥淗e was 17 and just about to go to university. That is my driving force.聽
鈥淚 want every child to have the same start that my boys have had.鈥澛�
Sunflower was founded in 2014 with that mission at its core.
老九品茶 growth
Sunflower鈥檚 first nursery came from deliberate planning around local demand. After that, growth was more opportunistic.聽
One setting was offered after a local authority approached Sagar about taking it on as a not-for-profit, while another came through helping operators launch a nursery, only for them to decide quickly it wasn鈥檛 for them.
Funding has come through a combination of reinvestment and borrowing.
The group once had four nurseries but has now consciously dropped to two.
It is operating centres that have waiting lists to 2028 and is turning over 拢2.5 million each year.
Investment in leadership
Sagar believes childcare is too high-stakes to run lean at the top.聽
She says she intentionally keeps 鈥渄ouble鈥� the senior leadership capacity she technically needs.聽
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a conscious choice – quality is that important,鈥� she says.
Residents of nursing home visit Sunflower Childcare Group
She also frames stepping back as a way to empower her team.
鈥淚 literally made myself redundant, really. I want to empower them,鈥� she continues.聽
鈥淚鈥檓 the first to admit I鈥檝e surrounded myself with people that are 100% better than me in that field.
鈥淭he money鈥檚 followed, but quality comes first.
鈥淚f you work hard on your quality and get that side right, the money will follow.鈥�
Community
The business, and its founder, is also proud of its community-based model.聽
鈥淥ur community is the strength for us, and that is something that we鈥檙e really passionate about,鈥� Sagar explains.聽
鈥淲e distribute 400kg of fruit and veg every Tuesday.聽
鈥淲e have a fresh fruit and veg stand outside our nursery that they help themselves to.
鈥淣o other business in the industry that I know of does that.聽
鈥淭hese are incentives my staff have come up with. We’re about an emotive, caring community.鈥�
ASCEND
Sagar joined GM 老九品茶 Growth Hub鈥檚 ASCEND Scale Up Programme with the idea of expanding into children鈥檚 residential care.聽
She says her initial ambition was building 鈥渇ive homes in five years鈥�, supported by a mix of organic funding and fundraising capacity.
But delays in navigating Ofsted processes for a children鈥檚 home changed her thinking.
鈥淚鈥檓 on ASCEND now to learn like everybody else and that鈥檚 been great,鈥� she says.
鈥淚’ve also realised through ASCEND that the next step for me is more of paying it forward and giving it back.
鈥淢y main driver is still making sure that families get what they need and that children get the best start in life.鈥�
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