Shilpa Reddy launches WeCare in Hyderabad

WeCare launches a near-site childcare center for Microsoft

With companies working towards catering to the changing needs of employees in today's fast-paced life, WeCare, a leading daycare-cum-pre-school in South India today announced an association with Microsoft to operate a state-of-the-art childcare center close to the Microsoft campus at Gachibowli.
The center is slated to start its operations in April 2015 and is open for Microsoft employees in Hyderabad. The 10,000 sq. feet child-care center will be one of the largest daycare-cum-pre- schools in Hyderabad. It will accommodate 126 children in the age group of 6 weeks to 8 years.

'The trend of daycare-cum-pre-school centers is being driven by several factors, including an increasing awareness amongst employers that there is a direct connect between a good work-life balance and productivity," said Reshma Shrinivas, Founder and MD of WeCare.

"The WeCare childcare center will offer more than just custodial care. It will focus not only on the intellectual and physical growth of the child but also emotional, social, language and creative development. The most important goal of our early childhood curriculum is to help children become enthusiastic learners and help them become independent, confident and creative. We teach them how to learn rather than what to learn," said Reshma Shrinivas.
"Corporate sponsored childcare centers are growing five times faster now than it did ever before. Women are going back to work in greater numbers after having children and that has prompted a need for childcare centers. We plan to open more centers in Hyderabad and expand our base to Chennai as well," said Reshma Shrinivas.

"Microsoft recognizes that high quality childcare is one of the needs of a modern-day parent. With our association with WeCare, we hope to address this need," said Rohit Thakur, Senior HR Director, Microsoft India.

Microsoft employee Prashant Bhugra said, "as working parents, we worry about our children when we leave them behind. With a quality childcare center located close to our workplace,

Microsoft addresses the modern-day challenges of its employees."

About WeCare
WeCare is a leading childcare organization that is gaining recognition for its early education programs, cutting edge curriculum and comprehensive facilities. It is the only childcare in Bengaluru to be certified by Early Childhood Association and has been adjudged five years in a row to be one of the best pre-schools in Bangalore by Education World since the year 2010. WeCare started in 2008 in Bengaluru actively partners with employers to develop and manage high-quality childcare programs at the work-site.

Reshma Shrinivas MD, WeCare Learning Pvt. Ltd

Equipped with an MBA and an extensive IT career spanning over 15 years, Reshma Shrinivas is experienced in incubating and running successful businesses around the globe.

A mother of two active children, her passion to create a safe- nurturing and learning environment for young children resulted in the birth of the first WeCare® center in 2008. She leads a team of committed early educators in an effort to create a stimulating, creative and developmentally appropriate environment for early learners that is comparable to the best in the world.

WeCare Learning Pvt. Ltd. is Bengaluru's largest chain of wholly-owned early childcare and learning centers. Each center is carefully designed by her team to provide a spacious, clean and age appropriate environment for early learners as young as 134 months to 12 years of age. Managing 9 centers spread across approximately 100,000 sq. ft., with around 40 corporate childcare partners requires a team that is equally passionate about their work. That is why the 300 member strong WeCare® family is specially selected by Reshma to understand and cater to the needs of almost 1,000 children every day.

With 8 centers in Bengaluru and one center in Hyderabad, Reshma's brainchild has been awarded "Bengaluru's Best Daycare cum Preschool" in 2014 by Brands Academy. WeCare® has also been ranked among Bengaluru's Top Preschools for five consecutive years from 2010 to 2014 by the Education World magazine survey and also listed among Bengaluru's Top Preschools in 2014-15 by the Brainfeed Magazine. WeCare® is also the first and only preschool in Bengaluru to be certified by Early Childhood Association, India.

WeCare's major client base includes some of the top-notch corporates in the IT and ITES space. With many years spent in the world of IT, Reshma thoroughly understands the needs of corporates and endeavors to create tailor-made solutions that not only fit their current requirements but also suit their future plans. The steady growth in WeCare is due to the high quality of care, trained teachers, clean and hygienic environment and internationally proven standards of safety and security that are never compromised upon.

The curriculum at WeCare® conforms to the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) standards and is a comprehensive early childhood educational program. It focuses on language, cognitive, creative, social and physical development of a child to ensure overall growth and well-being. WeCare® also employs the Multiple Intelligence approach that promotes the use of interest areas as a way of providing learning experiences that support individual uniqueness in every child. The philosophy behind the curriculum is that young children learn best by doing.

Reshma aspires to have WeCare® continue to set benchmarks for early childcare in India.

Shilpa Reddy

Mother, Model, Entrepreneur, Fitness Enthusiast

The elegant and talented Shilpa Reddy is quite the maverick in the world of fashion and beauty. She is a fashion graduate from the Academy of Design, Toronto. She has competed in the popular Gladrags Mrs. India contest in 2004 and won the coveted title. The diva has also been a part of the prestigious Kingfisher Calendar.

Apart from being a fashion designer, model and beauty queen she has also written health and fitness columns for leading journals and magazines. She is an influential socialite in Hyderabad and is actively associated with charity work such as Breast Cancer Awareness, Danutsav, Hariton-Green run and is the brand ambassador of Roshni an organization that aims to sensitize the common man and reducing the stigma associated with mental illness.
The fashionista went global when she took her collection to the India Fashion Week, Dubai. Soon after she became the only Indian designer to showcase her collection at The Eiffel Tower, Paris at the gallant J Autumn show 2014. Shilpa Reddy also showcased her collection at the dazzling New York City. She was invited to be a part of the prestigious J Spring Show, 2015, on the 19th of March. The show unfolded on the Hudson River's fascinating glass boat that was transformed into a 100-metre floating runway with New York's famous skyline and its architectural masterpieces such as the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and One World Trade Center, as the iconic backdrop for the sensational catwalk.

Shilpa was also a part of the recently concluded Lakme Fashion Week that happened in Mumbai. Her work is a visual fiesta, sprinkles of innovation floating in every fiber of her creations.

Shilpa is a doting mother and ably manages her flourishing business with her responsibilities as a mother. One of the secrets, she says, is her strict regimen of eating home cooked meals and daily exercise that keeps her mentally alert and physically agile.

Swati Popat Vats
President, Early Childhood Association

Swati is an avant-garde parenting guru, an advocate for child's rights, a curriculum consultant, a school designer, an entrepreneurs educator and an accomplished author.

A multi-talented educator, Swati decided to make changes in the early childhood education system by obliterating stress from pre-primary education with one stroke by gifting children stress-free learning andcoining a new philosophy 'Kiducation' for its progressive and child friendly curriculum. She also got parents to participate in their child's learning in every way. An advocate for children's rights, Swati has worked incessantly to promote developmental^ appropriate curriculum and banning school interviews of children. Her most recent agenda is the pursuit to bring an awareness about child safety be it traffic safety or child sexual abuse and for this she has developed workshops and written a book- 'When Touch Becomes Trouble', that can help kids, teachers and parents. As the President of Early Childhood Association she is active in ensuring that people from all walks of life come together for early childhood as she deeply believes that, 'it takes a village to raise a child.

As the leader for Asia of the Nature Action Collaborative for Children (NACC) she works tirelessly to ensure that children in India grow up knowing the earth and learning to respect nature right from the start. She is also the National Representative for India at the World Forum Foundation which works for early childhood in 150 countries and whose mission is to promote an ongoing global exchange of ideas on the delivery of quality services for young children in diverse settings.

Through all this Swati has been authoring many books for children. Mr. Pencil and Friends, How To Teach So Kids Can Learn, Are You Unknowingly Harming Your Child,

How To Be A Super Mom, The Power Of Play, Yipesl, Why Does Zelda Need Stripes?, have all received rave reviews.Recently she has authored the new age fairy tale series that has revolutionized traditional fairytales and made them more relevant for kids, the titles include- 3 Little Pigs Save The Earth, RedRiding Hood And The Wolf That Liked Healthy Food, Goldilocks And The 3 Magic Wordsand Hansel And Gretel And The Kind Old Lady. Swati seeks to spread an awareness on parenting and preschool education in as many avenues as possible: as the educational advisor for Tata Sky's interactive television games channel, ActveWhizkid; while designing an education kit released by IL&FS, called Smart Kit; as well as through the parenting columns she wrote in for Savvy and Mother & Baby, DNA newspaper Bengaluru, and presently for Parent Edge and on Aditya Birla web portal. Swati's efforts were recognized when she received the Gold Award for Child Education from the Governor of Goa and recently the Fellowship of Honour from New Zealand Tertiary College.

The President of Podar Education Network Swati may play many roles but beneath all this is the intrinsic need to give childhood to children in as many ways as possible.

Dr. K. Krishna Swaroop Reddy, MRCP,DCH (Ireland), Senior Consultant, Pacific Medical Centre

Dr. Swaroop is one of the most noted pediatricians in the city of Hyderabad. With over 35 years of practice under his belt, working with some of the top healthcare providers globally, Dr. Swaroop's passion remains biomedical research in emerging technologies.

Right after graduating in Medicine from the prestigious Sri Venkateshwara Medical College in Tirupati, Dr. Swaroop decided to travel the world working in hospitals across continents. Employed in the pediatrics wards of some of the foremost hospitals in Jamaica, British Guyana, Australia and England have significantly contributed to his approach towards patients and systematic analysis and diagnosis. In his 15 years spent away from India, Dr. Swaroop was convinced that the knowledge levels of Indian doctors are comparable to some of the best in the world. The difference, he says, lies in the approach.
Upon his return in 1998, Dr. Swaroop joined the Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad heading their department of Pediatrics and Neonatology. Almost simultaneously he began working on bio-medical research more particularly in stem cell research. Stem cells, he believes, are the future. Their capacity to repair any organ in the human body paves a way towards a hopeful future for countless patients. Instead of temporary cures, stem cells can provide permanent solutions alleviating pain and suffering to a great extent making them a boon for the human race.

Weary of the over-drugged world of medical pediatrics, Dr. Swaroop in 2005 founded the Pacific Hospitals Pvt. Ltd with the intention of creating a comfortable environment for his little patients. Currently he is a senior consultant in Pediatrics and Neonatology at the Pacific Medical Centre.
He is passionate about teaching and passing on all that he has learnt over his three decade long stint in the medical world.