Adele is the founder and CEO of GrandNanny, a local and intergenerational childcare model that supports midlife and older people to work in childcare roles within local families.
For Adele, founding GrandNanny was in some ways a continuation of work that her mum started during her childhood. Adele grew up in Lancashire, where her Mum ran a nursery that employed older women from the local community. It wasn’t until Adele herself was an adult and decided to volunteer at North London Cares, that she realised the other - perhaps unintentional - important aspect of her Mum’s nursery model: the intergenerational relationships formed between the older staff and the children. And so, the idea for GrandNanny was born.
Eight million UK families lack reliable childcare and one third of schools don’t have an after-school club - which can make finding part-time childcare difficult for families. Working in a corporate environment, Adele saw first-hand the link between a lack of childcare and career challenges - a pattern that she saw was disproportionately affecting women.
Adele began piloting and co-creating GrandNanny in 2020 alongside studying for her MSc in Gerontology and Ageing - the study of ageing from a social, biological and population perspective. For Adele, GrandNanny is built on three core principles: building intergenerational communities, tackling stigma around ageism in the workplace and creating flexible childcare for working families.
GrandNanny is now a team of 10, has boosted the employment prospects of 100s of experienced childcarers, and created a community of over 3,000 people.
GrandNanny works in partnership with local community stakeholders including job centres, re-employment organisations and charities to support people aged over 50 to find rewarding work using their childcare experience. Their approach tackles prejudices, makes childcare simpler and more local, champions underemployment, and facilitates powerful intergenerational connections.
GrandNanny has drawn international press attention, been a Finalist in Female Start Up of the Year 2021 and secured over £400,000 in funding to date. For the future, Adele and the GrandNanny team want to see GrandNannies at every school gate across the UK. In 2022, the GrandNanny team began piloting a new GrandNanny Champion programme that would empower more older adults at a local level.
Adele applied for the Multiplier to connect with other local leaders, create a support network and learn how to build her organisation. We selected Adele to be part of the Multiplier 2022 because we were so inspired by the opportunities GrandNanny are creating for older people and families in the UK. We’re delighted to be part of her journey in building the UK's first intergenerational childcare organisation.