Dive into the inspiring journey of Jay Shah, CEO of Marigold Academy, as he shares his unexpected path from corporate America to becoming a leader in early childhood education. Explore the foundation and vision of Marigold Academy, a franchise dedicated to providing exceptional care and education for children. Discover the driving force behind the Marigold Academy Franchise and its threefold mission and learn about Jay’s relentless commitment to nurturing both children and the careers of passionate educators. Explore the goals, strengths, and unique approach that set Marigold Academy apart in the competitive world of early childhood education. Join us in envisioning the future as Marigold Academy strives to become the gold standard in nurturing care and education across the nation.

Table of Contents

Charting Uncharted Paths from Immigrant to CEO

We started the interview by asking, “Explain your background.”

Jay replied, “I am Jay Shah, CEO of Marigold Academy. My path to Marigold Academy was unexpected. Originally, I immigrated to the USA in 1995. I spent 15 years working different corporate jobs to support my family before discovering my passion for early childhood education in 2019. Though I lacked experience initially, my vision for creating nurturing environment where young minds could thrive academically and socially made up for that. In just a few years, our balanced curriculum and compassionate teachers have earned parent acclaim as a home away from home for kids to flourish.

Now through thoughtful franchise expansion, we are privileged to influence more communities with Marigold’s dedication to children realizing full potential. For me, this work is hugely rewarding – significantly benefiting families with quality care, teachers through advancement opportunities, and professionals pursuing an enriching entrepreneurial legacy. I’m proud what started from humble roots now drives substantial community good.”

Discovering Marigold Academy

The Worlds Times: What is Marigold Academy?

Jay replied, “Founded in 2019, Marigold Academy is an early childhood education franchise for children 6 weeks to 6 years old. Our age-appropriate curriculums mix academics with social-emotional learning to nurture confidence and abilities, while providing trusting home away from home environment for working families.

We provide a strong franchise support system – guiding our franchisees every step of the way, including site selection analysis, design and construction support, targeted marketing strategies, extensive hiring and operations training, and ongoing mentoring to deliver exceptional enrichment programs in local communities.”

Founding Marigold Academy Franchise

The Worlds Times: Why did you start “Marigold Academy Franchise”?

Jay replied, “I started Marigold Academy franchise for three main reasons:

  • From personally touring dozens of centers, I am confident Marigold Academy offers a rare quality care – It’s not just our enriching curriculum and clean facilities. Our real strength is our staff who treat each child like family, so children thrive. Now more than ever, dual-income families need reliable, nurturing care they can trust completely. With high demand for childcare that feels like family, Marigold aims to bring our home away from home culture in every community so the local families can trust their little ones will grow well with us.
  • What excites me most about franchising is seeing our talented, dedicated staff advance. Marigold Academy’s fifty-five employees are like family. Now franchising creates leadership roles in Operations, Training, Finance and more. I’m thrilled that our staff will nurture new franchisees on delivering compassionate early education. Franchising means our people can grow professionally sharing Marigold’s values wider while serving children. I aim to create career ladders and personal legacies for staff committed to our mission. Their personal growth is Marigold’s legacy and my success as a leader.
  • I know many passionate professionals dream of starting an uplifting business but struggle with uncertainty on where to begin. I also meet community members eager to convert commitment to early education into an enriching opportunity yet feeling stuck. I aim to guide aspiring entrepreneurs across that daunting bridge through Marigold Academy’s proven blueprint for delivering quality care. Our extensive training and support give newcomers confidence to leave comfort zones safely. Because opening your own rewarding childcare center should feel like joining a supportive family, not venturing alone into the unknown. I faced the same doubts before Marigold mentored my journey. Now paying that guidance forward is my purpose – to help more business leaders transform their community commitment into reality.”

Marigold Academy’s Vision

The Worlds Times: What are your goals?

Jay replied, “Our vision is making Marigold Academy a household name in thoughtful childhood education and care nationwide. First, we earn community trust as the preferred local nurturing choice for early enrichment. With already two thriving New Jersey schools and more underway in surrounding states, we grow nationwide responsibly – retaining the tight bonds with our staff, students, parents, and franchisees that make our culture special.”

The Pillars of Excellence

The Worlds Times: What do you feel are the biggest strengths of “Marigold Academy”?

Jay replied, “What truly makes Marigold Academy different is our total commitment to our children, families, and teachers. Like any working family, parents need trustworthy care from professionals who nurture like their own. Our teachers become invested in the community for years, getting to know each child closely and watching them grow. This creates trusted, familiar faces and comforting stability that parents and children treasure. Our schools grow to feel like a home away from home.

We cultivate happy teachers because happy teachers spark happy children – and happy children spark happy parents. That is the Marigold philosophy! Children thrive best surrounded by consistent, compassionate, and respected mentors dedicated fully to nurturing lifelong love for learning and enrichment. From toddler ages, our play-based lessons in advanced literacy, math, art and more set up academic and personal success – with our pre-k classrooms mirroring real kindergartens to put students ahead. Marigold enables confident, capable learners for bright futures.”

The Evolution of Marigold Academy

The Worlds Times: What was the path you took to get to where you are today?

Jay replied, “Despite coming from engineering and finance backgrounds, I discovered my true passion when I acquired our first center in 2019, now called Marigold Academy. By listening closely to staff and families first, we made many positive changes – improving safety, introducing STEAM lessons, foreign and sign languages, and championing diversity and inclusion. We empower outstanding teachers to nurture children’s greatness daily.

In 2020, we extended this growing philosophy of compassion by acquiring a struggling second location. All the same enrichments and operational excellence transformed it into a thriving school as satisfaction, revenue, and profitability soared over just a few years. Families gratefully return and refer others given our consistent Marigold standard of truly caring, balanced learning.

It’s that twin passion for early childhood advancement and creating local jobs that motivates me to expand Marigold Academy nationwide. In time, our balance of educational excellence and sound operations can make Marigold Academy a gold standard brand for both entrepreneurs and parents coast to coast. Quality care matters now more than ever, fulfilling a greater calling.”

Capturing Jay Shah in a Single Word

The Worlds Times: Give us one word that describes you the best.

Jay replied, “Relentless. Being relentless means passionately persisting each day towards a purpose. I wake up every day with a purpose to make Marigold Academy a better place for our children, teachers, parents, and our franchisees. When you have a vision for what you can achieve and are unwilling to settle, you tap into an inner reserve of strength. With relentless positivity propelling you on difficult days and relentless commitment ensuring you build progress bit by bit; you start to build unstoppable momentum. Suddenly what others said you were incapable of, becomes possible. Great achievements take time, grit, an almost stubborn refusal to give up prematurely, and a relentless belief in the power of everyday hard work.”

Embracing Marigold Academy’s Vision

The Worlds Times: What do you value the most about “Marigold Academy” vision?

Jay replied, “It’s mission. Marigold Academy mission goes beyond quality early education. We enrich young lives while empowering teachers’ career growth at the same time. Franchising opens leadership paths for staff to keep positively influencing classrooms nationwide by training our franchisee partners.

We also open doors for professionals seeking inspiring small business ownership. My corporate experience and Marigold Academy have shaped me; now I pay the guidance forward and help talented professionals build their personal legacies through Marigold Academy franchise.

This multi-layered mission energizes me every morning – knowing we not only change young trajectories daily but also provide growth for hardworking teachers and entrepreneurs following their purpose. Marigold Academy represents building personal legacies by strengthening communities.”

Future Horizons

The Worlds Times: How do you see the company changing in two years, and how do you see yourself creating that change?

Jay replied, “At Marigold Academy, our vision is becoming the gold standard in early childhood education nationwide. Currently, our New Jersey schools deliver top tier nurturing and academic preparation. With more locations underway, we aim to conscientiously scale across the Northeast first. Our close-knit culture obsesses over every child maximizing their potential. As demand grows for our age-appropriate and balanced enrichment programs, Marigold Academy looks forward to responsibly sharing and expanding our proven early childhood education model from coast to coast.”

Empowering Families and Enriching Lives

Lastly, we asked, “What benefits are your clients getting from “Marigold Academy” in this competitive world?”

“At Marigold Academy, nurturing children from 6 weeks to 6 years is our life’s work. Our reputation rests on strong ethics, integrity, and age-appropriate learning tailored to developmental milestones. If premium childcare from compassionate career educators appeals to you as a parent, learn more about our balanced approach. And if exploring small business ownership opportunity excites you, our extensive franchising support provides a proven model for crafting your personal legacy. We guide franchisees every step – from initial interest inquiry through celebrating their school’s grand opening and ongoing mentoring to deliver exceptional enrichment programs in local communities. Join families who call our schools “home away from home” and owners describing franchising with Marigold Academy as “the opportunity I’ve waited for.” Jay Concluded

Connect with Jay Shah on Linkedin

Visit Marigold Academy to learn more

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