Child’s play for a CEO

Learning verve: Sarah Mackenzie's proven skills in the early-years sector made her a natural choice to help Storal grow as CEO

Nursery group Storal Learning was named one of the UK’s fastest-growing private businesses in the Sunday Times 100, sponsored by Barclays Private Bank. Now Sarah Mackenzie has taken over as leader, how does she plan to take it to the next level?

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We’re never dictatorial in our approach, and balance that with the benefits of being part of a larger group

Sarah Mackenzie

Child's play

When Sarah Mackenzie joined Storal Learning earlier this year, she became the fast-growing nursery chain’s first chief executive. The business, which had been run by co-founders Varun Chanrai and Ashwin Grover since its launch in 2016, was entering a new period of growth and was ready for a fresh voice in the leadership team. It can be difficult for outsiders to join companies where the founders still have a prominent role, but Mackenzie, 36, has made the transition smoothly since moving from a rival early-years education provider. “I was excited by the opportunity to come in as the first CEO in a founder-led company,” she says. “Varun, Ash and I had a lot of open and frank discussions before I joined. We’re all aware of the strengths we bring and have a lot of respect for each other. I’ve been able to come in and form my own opinions and agenda. They’ve been very trusting and supportive.” Mackenzie joined a business that was already thriving. Storal ranked 89th in The Sunday Times 100 list of Britain’s fastest-growing private businesses, sponsored by Barclays Private Bank and published in July. It operates 26 nurseries across England, providing more than 3,000 childcare places and employing 600 staff. Sales last year came to £12.2 million, and the annual sales growth over the past three years has been 46.92 per cent. Chanrai, 37, and Grover, 39, launched Storal with the vision that every child deserves somewhere they can learn and grow. In the early days, the two entrepreneurs attempted to paint their first nursery by themselves, without much success, before calling in professional help. Since then, the business has grown through acquiring independent nurseries in all parts of England. It runs seven nurseries in both the southwest and the Midlands, eight in the southeast and four in the northwest. Although new nurseries are required to adopt consistent policies and procedures when they become part of the wider Storal group, they are not forced to alter the approach to teaching and caring for children that made them successful in the first place. “We try to make sure we’re never dictatorial in our approach and we’re not prescriptive when we don’t have to be,” says Mackenzie. “We balance that with the benefits of being part of a larger group such as giving new nurseries the resources they wouldn’t have as an independent.”

The chief executive is already making her own mark, with clear plans to continue the strong growth of recent years. Storal’s top priority is expanding its team and maximising the employee experience for existing staff. It will launch a new employee brand cementing its mission, values and vision later this year and plans to add more than 100 new jobs over the next 12 months. Mackenzie says further plans include focusing on the “quality of education and customer service to families”, along with continuing to open new nurseries and expand existing sites. Next month, Storal will open its first new-build nurseries in Banbury and Romford. “We want to reach more children, more families, more team members,” she adds. Running a fast-growing business brings many challenges, both personal and professional. Mackenzie says her leadership style has evolved through her career to bring a greater understanding of how to balance her work commitments with the need to pursue other interests to stay mentally and physically healthy. “Over the years, I’ve developed my self-awareness and that’s allowed me to understand how I leverage my strengths, but also how I get the best from my teams and the organisation,” she says. One of the biggest challenges facing businesses across a range of industries is filling vacancies in a labour market approaching full employment. Storal has struggled at times, which has an impact on its ability to grow, as well as on the waiting times faced by families hoping to secure their child a nursery place. Rampant inflation is another big concern. “As much as that’s a huge challenge for us, we do think we’ve got a great opportunity to grow through the existing nurseries, acquisitions and openings, and to mitigate inflationary pressures if we can enhance performance in other parts of the business,” Mackenzie says. An influx of investments into the nursery sector from private equity businesses over recent years means Storal could have the opportunity to sell, but that is not on the cards in the short term, according to Mackenzie. “The focus is growth at the moment,” she says. “If the founders were minded to sell, this would be the year to do it. There’s huge interest in our sector at the moment, multiples are very high. But if you look at what’s happening with a new CEO and multiple initiatives across the business, we’re doing a lot of things you wouldn’t be doing if a sale was imminent.”

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All information within this article is produced by The Times. While Barclays Private Bank sponsored the Sunday Times 100 list of Britain’s fastest-growing private businesses, the views and information in this article have not been endorsed, issued or approved by Barclays. Barclays offers private and overseas banking, credit and investment solutions to its clients through Barclays Bank PLC and its subsidiary companies. Barclays Bank PLC is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register No. 122702) and is a member of the London Stock Exchange and NEX. Registered in England. Registered No. 1026167. Registered Office: 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP. Barclays Bank PLC, Isle of Man Branch has its principal place of business at Barclays House, Victoria Street, Douglas, Isle of Man, and is licensed by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority.

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