Arranging childcare in 2021

For 29-year-old Lyla Kok, entrepreneurship took root early through her enterprising parents. She founded Nanny Nina with her sister Jasmijn.

You need to have a lot of courage if you decide to start your own business at a young age. However, for the 29 year old Lyla Cook entrepreneurship was taught to her by her enterprising parents. She founded the babysitting app together with her twin sister Jasmijn Nanny Nina on. This New Kid you might know from her participation in the program Dragon's Den with which she brought Shawn Harris on board as an investor with an amount of 300.000 euros. Text: Fleur de JongThe idea of Nanny Nina is to arrange a babysitter, suitable for 2021. This means that as parents you can place a request for a permanent babysitter or just an evening. Nanny Nina then searches for 1 to 3 screened babysitter profiles that are available and meet the customer's requirements. No more hassle with cash, because as a parent you can simply pay via the app. While babysitting often falls through the cracks, as a babysitter with this company you are also insured while working. The investment of golden dragon Shawn Harris will come in handy, because on July 1, Nanny Nina will go live in 3 other countries.

What is your personal USP?

''Nice question! I think I, just like my twin sister Jasmine, I think it is very important that people feel empowered in what they do. If you do what you are good at and can also learn extra, in my opinion you are a happy person. This is something that we pay a lot of attention to in our company and on which we base many of our choices.” 

What can the older generation of entrepreneurs learn from you?

''I think that being able to learn things is not necessarily tied to age. That almost sounds a bit disrespectful. For example, I can learn a lot from an older generation of entrepreneurs. I have also really learned a lot from my father and mother, for example, who are also both entrepreneurs. But if I really have to mention something, it might be the importance of SEO; being organically found online. How to achieve this and the importance of social media channels. New ones are being added all the time, so you are never done setting up and maintaining your SEO strategy properly.”

Who is your mentor or source of inspiration in the field of entrepreneurship?

"That is Shawn Harris our investor that we met through the TV program Dragon's Den have gotten to know. Shawn himself has built a company that is incredibly big, by working really hard, but also by making smart choices and thinking big. And she teaches us that too, her perspective is extremely inspiring and we learn a lot from her. Shawn has been through a lot and she helps us not to make the same mistakes. If we have difficult issues, we are happy to call Shawn. She has the skills to do something that we find really complex and that can take us days to worry can be clarified in one sentence (sometimes even just via WhatsApp).”

What is your motto or quote?

I actually have 2 mottos: 'Life is short and yours, make of it what you will.' And 'Do what makes you happy. Money really isn't that important. ' ”

What is the biggest entrepreneurial risk you have taken so far?

“Funnily enough, it seems very logical now, but the biggest risk for me was quitting my job at Zodiac Aerospace. I had a very nice job there. Another risk was doing one crowdfunding promotion of a total of 100.000 euros, which was a loan. Jasmijn and I really don't like borrowing, especially not from friends, but afterwards it was the best choice ever!”

Where will you be in 3 years?

“We will go live on July 1 in three new countries: Spain, Belgium and Ireland. These are our testing grounds. We have to learn how it works in these countries with babysitting payments, laws and regulations and the demand for childcare. These things are very culture dependent. If everything goes well, in 3 years we will be in at least 12 countries, with both nannies and au pairs. I hope to have a 10% growing turnover every month (we already had this in the Netherlands pre-corona). I also hope with Nanny Nina go to if someone has a babysitting question. There is not yet an international player for a childcare app, in 3 years we will have closed that gap with our company, not only in Europe, but also in South America and Australia, for example.

Perhaps in three years' time our team will also be expanded with international colleagues who know the local market in these countries well. For now we are trying to reach the first three countries from our head office in Haarlem country captains that will kickstart these areas.”Do you know or are you a successful, young entrepreneur who also deserves a place in the spotlight? Please email Fleur de Jong ([email protected]).Click here before and after,  new kid Tom Brokking of the new JUMPTHE-Q app.