Family first

WITH NEARLY 10 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE, EVOLVE EDUCATION GROUP CEO TIMOTHY WONG EXPLAINS WHY IT REALLY DOES TAKE A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD.

- SASKIA TILLERS

Timothy Wong is not usually one for regrets. But now, as he nears a decade of working in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, he admits that if he did have one, it would be not enrolling his own children in child care when they were younger.“I’ve got two children; one is 21 and the other is 18,” Timothy says. “The funny thing is, because of my Chinese heritage, child care was never really thought of as an option. The mentality – especially during those early years – tended to be children should only be raised by family. But the piece of the puzzle that we didn’t understand at that time was the education aspect.

“And now, having been in the industry for quite a while, I see the value in the kind of wide-ranging start in life for children that early childhood education and care provides. I think, unfortunately, my kids really missed out by never getting that opportunity. If I had that time again, I’d absolutely put them into child care. Now, by drawing on my own experience, I’m using that knowledge in areas where there are high concentrations of people with Asian heritage.

With a Bachelor of Commerce and an MBA from The University of Queensland under his belt, Timothy spent his formative years fine-tuning his commerce, strategy and leadership skills at a number of multinational companies in retail, property and construction. However, when he decided to buy three childcare centres as an investment with his brother, cousin and a family friend in 2011, he had no idea that this decision would ultimately shape the next chapter of his career. At the time, Timothy was with PTW Architects as the Sydney firm’s COO, but when it became apparent that the childcare centres he’d bought weren’t in such great shape, he realised he’d have to step up and take on the businesses full-time.