CASE STUDY 2 (Total: 50 marks) Refugee Who Built Mindchamps- Bring Out The Champion in your Child David Chiem, Mind Champs's founder CEO can still clearly remember being called 'stupid'. It was on his first day school in Australia in 1978. David aged 9 and his family has arrived in the country as "boat people" after fleeing war-ravaged Vietnam, surviving close encounters with murderous pirates and enduring life in a Malaysian refugee camp. "I arrived not speaking a word of Englishnot even hello", he explains. "I can remember being called stupid in my own language by another student because the teacher was asking for my name, but I didn't understand her". Education was highly prized by David's family, a mindset reinforce by their traumatic escape from Vietnam. "My father had a strong philosophy of never taking anything for granted, and my father always said that one thing no one can ever take from you is education," he says. "This gave me a very strong mindset, and I was determined to make a contribution". That strong focus on education, coupled with his earlier trauma, pushed David to excel in his studies because his father has always wanted him to be a doctor. At the age of 14 David landed a starring role on Butterfly Island, becoming the first Asian-Australian to be given a lead role on mainstream television and appearing on TV screens around the world. As a result, although he aced his Higher School Certificate, rather than studying medicine he chose the path of his new-found passion to study acting and film making. As he studied the craft of filmmaking, David had an epiphany. He became fascinated by the idea that there could be another way of teaching children. They faced far greater demands on their education than previous generations, so, instead of rote learning, drilling and memorising content, why not help children to understand how to learn and more importantly, develop then mindset of enthusiastic, lifelong learners? "While I always did well at School and enjoyed it, I saw that many students didn't do so well. I became curious as to why. I begin to suspect that it was because their education experience simply didn't engage them", he explains. In 1998 he founded MindChamps, a ground breaking early learning educational organization based on strategies derived from research 'in the 4 domains' of Neuroscience, Psycology, Education and Theatre. Since its inception in Sydney, MindChamps has grown from point zero to achieving the number one brand position in the highly competitive Singapore premium preschool space, with a market share of 38.5%. MindChamps makes a difference in the lives of children by providing curriculum and care. By synthesising and distilling more than two decades of research in cuttingedge enrichment programs, the MindChamps research and program development team developed a preschool curriculum that rapidly propelled the MindChamps model to its current industry-leading position. The MindChamps Global Research Advisory and Education Team is chaired by world-renowed neuroscientist Emeritus Professor Allan Snyder, a Fellow of the Royal Society and Marconi Prize-winner. Professor Snyder is the researcher who studied and coined the term 'Champion Mindset', based on studies of the world's great achievers, which enables every individual to become the best that they can be. MindChamps PreSchool offers programs based on its research-based, revolutionary 3-mind model of education: The Learning Mind promotes academic excellence; the Creative Mind frees the imagination; and Champion Mind instills perserverance and excellence. This 3-Mind model was introduced in the 2007 bestseller The 3-Mind Revolution, co-authored by David and Brian Caswell, MindChamps Dean of Research and Program Development. Unlike other Early Learning organizations, MindChamps has its own unique, research-backed curriculum and Intellectual Property. This commitment to developing its own Intellectual Property resulted in MindChamps being acorded the WIPO-IPOS IP Award in 2015 by the World Interlletual Property Organization (WIPO) and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) for excellece in the brand's trademark porfolio. What began as a research centre in Sydney, taking the number one market share in Singapore for premiun preschools and expanding into Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia, is now back home in Australia. The awardwinning MindChamps franchise has a Head Office in Sydney and more than 20 MindChamps Centres operating in strategic locations across the city. It now has a pioneer batch of 10 passionate franchisees, along with many more already in the pipeline. For David, this is very much a homecoming story. "To bring MindChamps back home and nurture Asutralia's most important assets, the minds of its children, is a real privilege and lifetime honour". Sources: Business Franchise, Australia and New Zealand, Volume 16, Issue 04 May/June 2022 and www.mindcharmps.org/au (e) Should MindChamps collaborate (co-brand) with other learning centre? Why or why not? (10 marks) Answers