Ildikó Stennis, CEO of Science Smart Kids Inc (DBA “Camp Captivate“), shares an update on how the Small Business School Challenge transformed her business.
August 14th, 2020. It’s been 3 months to the day since the first Small Business School Challenge event kicked off. And the team from the SBSC is starting to recieve emails like this one:
“I appreciate what you have done so much for small business! This challenge saved my business from ruin.”
-Ildikó Stennis
We were delighted to followup and learn more about what’s happened with Ildikó and Camp Captivate in the months since the SBSC-I in May. Here’s what she had to share with us.
From her notes, her business was suffering substantially when COVID19 hit. By the end of March 2020:
- Enrollment was down by roughly 80 percent
- Although she transitioned to virtual camps and updated her website, the messaging was negative, scary & fragmented regarding COVID
- Refunds, credits, etc were killing their profits and revenue
Based on her MBA team’s recommendations during the Small Business School Challenge, she has very different news to report 3 months later! As of August 2020:
- They implemented positive marketing & messaging
- They are experiencing robust enrollment
- Completed 5 weeks of virtual camp with 3 levels, many weeks sold out!
- They are receiving Positive Customer Feedback (Survey)
- They have good profits!
She also shared that revenues for the year are back up to 86% of the total gross for all of 2019! And that orders are up 33% over last year as well due to the new options and kits that support virtual kids camps and corporate events.
Perhaps best yet, she’s been able to rehire staff and even some temporary workers to fulfill the new orders.
A big shout out to her MBA team from Vanderbilt University – Owen Graduate School of Management! They received 2nd place in their School Final in May, but the impact of their work has been award winning by all accounts, especially Ildikó’s!
See their top ranked case study here.
Thanks to the Camp Captivate team for executing your suggestions to such a high degree and sharing your Story of Impact! We’re cheering on your continued success.
And thanks again to our sponsor RingCentral for helping make the first Small Business School Challenge a reality!