Summer Camps Cash In as Schools Close

**Tim Elliott** (0:00)
This is the Morning Drive, and schools are about to close for the summer. So that means demand for holiday camps and summer camps and lots of extracurricular stuff is rising. However, it's no longer just about childcare or keeping kids entertained. It's about equipping them with life skills these days. So what's driving demand? How profitable is the summer camp market? Why these programs? Why are they becoming a fast growing business vertical? That and much more. Charlotte D'Souza is the co-founder of Blah Blah Blah, which is essentially an online, but offline as well, Life Skills Academy for children and for teens. And she's with me. Good to meet you.

**Charlotte D'Souza** (0:43)
Hi, Tim. Thanks for having me on the show. Lovely to meet you too.

**Tim Elliott** (0:47)
It's changed. It's my kids who are at summer camps. And we'll come to that and we'll look at the way they work these days.
I suppose most of us think of them as kind of a logistical necessity for parents in lots of ways. But is the rise of Life Skills programs a response to parents demanding more, or are you trying to change the way the market defines summer camps and summer care?

**Charlotte D'Souza** (1:14)
Absolutely. It's the second one. I am trying to change the market. And I'm sure many others like me are trying to.
It was always about traditional camps, going out and playing, even some online camps, but again traditional recreational programs like drawing, art, music, et cetera. And I wanted to get in there and felt that there was a gap, especially between what we learn in our formative years and what we need in real life. And those are Life Skills, you know. That's the emotional intelligence part. And that's where I started my organization.

**Tim Elliott** (1:44)
And that's what you thought was lacking, the emotional intelligence part.

**Charlotte D'Souza** (1:47)
Absolutely.
That was lacking. I mean, if you ask any adult today, what is one thing you wish was taught at school? And you will hear people say, I wish somebody taught me confidence. I wish somebody told me that you don't need to fear what people say. You need to go out there and talk. I wish somebody taught me empathy, what empathy really is. I wish I didn't even know the definition of emotional intelligence. Some people don't know the difference of empathy and sympathy. And they said that I wish all these things were taught in schools, that I can go up on stage and speak, I can go and do whatever I want to. But this wasn't taught.

**Tim Elliott** (2:18)
Well, those are all skills that I suppose, if you were to list those, those are skills that you should be learning from your parents. And I use the word, the conditional verb, should, and often we don't. It's like at school as well, I've always kind of felt one of the things you really know, you need to know what to do with is money. We're not taught about money, you have to save all of those things. So I guess there's a need for all of those. I'm answering my own question here. There's a light bulb moment.
So has there been a change in summer camp spending habits? Do you think, are you finding that parents are willing to pay maybe a premium for that extra kind of life skills part compared to the traditional sports camps or the art camps?

**Charlotte D'Souza** (3:06)
Okay, more than parents agreeing to spend a premium or an extra part, I'm glad that parents are coming to the table. There was a time where parents thought like you said, these skills should be learned from your parents or you learn them and you grow up. But now parents are realizing the importance of learning these life skills in your formative years and they're at least coming to the table to pay the money, I would say.
I would, in all reality, I would still not say that people are paying more for life skills or premium camps as compared to the traditional camps. No, that's not true. But parents are coming to pay and that itself is a revolution.

**Tim Elliott** (3:41)
So it's more like reinforcement really, isn't it? Hopefully, they're picking up at home, but it's just that extra push, I suppose.
So look, you're an online academy. Essentially, 85 percent, is that right, of what you do is online? You're an online academy. So how do you handle that? How does it work, really? I'm trying to get my head around it. How do you handle the engagement challenge? How do you keep a 14-year-old, a 7-year-old, a 14-year-old, a 17-year-old interested in a digital environment when very often at summer camp, traditionally, you'd be outdoors, playing football, hiking, whatever it is that you're doing, or you'd be dropped at a camp location. How does it all come together?