"The term
'mumpreneur' dates back about 15 years to a feature in Practical Parenting
magazine, I think," explains mother, entrepreneur and writer Antonia Chitty,
author of many books, including 129 Brilliant Business Ideas for Mums and The
Mumpreneur Guide. "When I started writing, 'work-at-home mum' was another
often-used term, but that didn't tell the full story."
Chitty says the
number of mothers with babies and young children who run businesses has grown
enormously in recent years. "It's become mainstream and more recently
there's been a bit of a backlash against the mumpreneur label, because women
want to be seen as businesspeople in their own right."
Such women come
from all walks of life, but, according to Chitty, they all share a
determination to make a better life for themselves and their families.
"Many women are spurred on to start their own business because their
employment circumstances aren't sufficiently family-friendly. Self-employment
gives mums the control they need over their working hours, while enabling them
to generate income. And many of them come up with business ideas after finding
solutions to challenges they face as a parent."
Mother
of invention
One such example is
Surrey-based Cara Sayer, 41-year-old managing director of Really Simple Ideas
Ltd, whose most successful trademark is SnoozeShade,
an award-winning range of sun and sleep shades for prams. She started her
business in 2008, following a 20-year career in marketing and events and the
birth of her daughter, Holly. "I got fed up
with blankets falling off Holly's pram when we were out and she needed to
sleep, so I decided to make my own shade. Other people thought it was great and
wanted one, so I had a prototype made and took it to a trade show.
"The response
was overwhelmingly positive – I even secured an order from JoJo
Maman Bébé, a leading baby and toddler retailer started by the
mother and entrepreneur Laura Tenison. I had to quickly go into full-scale
production to achieve their four-month delivery deadline."
Sayer also
impressed buyers from John Lewis, Mothercare and others: "It just sort of
snowballed," she smiles. Guided by customers' feedback, she developed 10
products in three years. The business now turns over more than £250,000,
selling more than 40,000 units to customers in 20 countries.
"Anyone who
says juggling being a mother and primary childcarer with running a business is
easy is either fibbing or has a full-time nanny. It's a struggle to balance
time spent on the business and time with Holly. However, as a businesswoman, I
hope I'm setting a positive example for her. She's very proud of her mummy and
loves the fact she's pictured on the packaging."
Maternal
instinct
Another successful
entrepreneur and mum (to Barnaby, 10, Maisy, 8 and Monty, 3) is 39-year-old
Wendy Shand, who runs Lincolnshire-based Tots to
Travel, a family-friendly holiday villa company.
"I set the
business up in 2006, following a near disastrous holiday in 2005 to France with
my husband, son and baby daughter. Barnaby was two-and-a-half and fell into an
unenclosed swimming pool, but thankfully he came to no harm," Shand
recounts. "The property wasn't equipped for small children, while having
to take so much stuff from home with you is a logistical nightmare for parents.
"I recognised
the business opportunity – and was certainly looking for one. I'd worked in PR
and marketing and had got married to my husband, who was in the RAF, so I had
to move away from London. I needed something that offered greater flexibility,
so I became a reception teacher for a while, but working in the public sector
was very frustrating.
Greater
flexibility
"I always
wanted to run my own business and was just waiting for the right opportunity. I
knew it had to be something that was scalable. If you are to successfully
combine your career with children you need flexibility, but often you don't get
it while working for someone else."
Initially, Shand's
startup offered family-friendly breaks to nine carefully selected gîtes in
France, but now customers can choose from almost 400 child-friendly properties
in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Canaries and the Balearics. The business
has turned over £4m in seven years and now employs six office-based staff in
the UK, with six representatives overseas who carry out property inspections.
Enormous
opportunities
"I've grown my
business slowly – deliberately so – because development has been planned
around
having and bringing up my children. The older they became, the more time I
could dedicate to my business. Balancing both roles is difficult at times, but
you have to keep plugging away.
"You must have
a good business idea, but you don't have to come up with something entirely
new, just something that's better. I didn't invent the holiday lettings
business, I just created a business tailored to a market that wasn't being
catered for. There are enormous opportunities out there for mothers who want to
start their own business."
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