Opening a preschool franchise location during a pandemic means you need to be flexible. You may have just figured out your typical day when everything changes andyour schedule, procedures, and more get turned upside down. That’s what Aleena and Bilal Zaidi, a brother and sister franchising team, discovered when they opened their Angus Valley Montessori School location in September 2021. The two, originally born in Canada, were raised in Pakistan and then returned to Canada for university. They say they work well together—as Aleena explains, “We depend on each other. If you have a sibling, you have to be there for them.” The first challenges the two faced were delays in opening their Vaughan, Ontario location. The pair originally hoped to open in 2020, and then in summer 2021, Bilal says. “There were a lot of delays, labour shortages, and restrictions by York Region on how many people you could have in the building, [as little as] one tradesman at a time. We anticipated we would be open for summer camp, but that was pushed back.” download