Necessity the mother of invention as women entrepreneurs lead the way

Ireland is a nation of entrepreneurs and a great country in which to do business. Or at least that’s how we like to see ourselves.

And there may be some truth to that claim. A report from Oracle last year put Ireland among the top countries in the world for entrepreneurial activity, reaching number seven, and we topped the class in Europe.

However, one area where we could do better is getting a gender balance in entrepreneurial activity.

The number of men setting up their own businesses outweighs that of women, and various funds and agencies have tried to address the issue.

Enterprise Ireland, for example, has a competitive start fund aimed at women entrepreneurs, while the National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) has a female founders programme.

There are also networking events aimed at women entrepreneurs to encourage them to build connections.

There are already a growing number of women setting up their own companies working from the comfort of their own homes, affording them a degree of flexibility when it comes to working around family and other commitments.

Practical products

One well-known name is Clevamama, a baby product company that has built its brand around being designed by parents for parents.

It was set up by sisters Suzanne Browne and Martina Craine in 2003.

Originally an online store and distribution business, it moved on to designing and manufacturing its own products. The Clevamama range includes everything from soother trees to apron bath towels. The focus is on practical products that solve parents’ problems.

“If we had the need, so did everybody else,” said Craine. “We didn’t see ourselves as unique parents. It’s still very much like that now with our product development.”

The company now has an innovation award to its name , the result of a partnership with Trinity College Dublin on the development of its “Clevafoam” material. It is used in pillows to help prevent and correct plagiocephaly – flat head syndrome – in babies and has the scientific evidence to back it up.

Its brand isn’t immediately distinguishable as Irish from the name – a conscious choice to ensure it would cross borders without difficulty – and it’s now stocked in the US, China, the UK, Europe, South America and some Middle East countries. Clevamama has just signed its latest deal, a distribution agreement with Mothercare that will see its products sold in Russia.

Doing their research has been key to the company’s success overseas. “If you know your business going in the door, it’s not difficult to do business anywhere in the world,” said Craine.

Next on the list is further expansion into the Middle East.

“The end consumer is no different to someone walking into a Mothercare here,” said Browne. “You need to understand your market, understand your consumer. If you rush in, you’ll fail.”

Success stories

There are plenty of other success stories in the Irish market. Earthmother, run by Siobhan Elsom, ships ecofriendly products ranging from cloth nappies and baby clothes to cleaning products and toiletries as well as slings, carriers and toys; Joeyroo is an online store that seeks out innovative and practical products for parents.

Each of them has identified a particular gap in the market and decided the only way to plug it was to do it themselves.

For HipBaby owner Leona Kinahan, it was discovering her daughter had eczema that prompted her to look for clothing that didn’t use harsh chemicals in the production process. With a limited range on offer, she decided to widen the choice a bit and now sells into the Irish market for Frugi and other clothing brands, along with various baby accessories

Ecofriendly clothes

For a more unusual product, Scatterpillar Designs, run by Dublin designer Jacinta Leigh, turns your child's art creations into toys made from their old clothes and canvasses for your wall.

One of the newest companies is Babygrows, a company that that sells bamboo baby clothes. The company is tapping into a trend for more ecofriendly baby clothes, importing Canadian range Silkberry into Ireland and the UK.

The woman behind the firm, Suzanne Schmidt, was a nurse before she set up the company a few months ago. While on maternity leave, she was looking for good quality clothes made from ecofriendly fibres for her baby, but found her options were limited as many of the companies offering the clothes wouldn’t ship to Ireland.

She imported them, and when she discovered a lot of her friends were in a similar position, she decided to set up as a business.

The long hours in her previous jobs – 12-hour shifts with early mornings and late nights – coupled with a husband who travels a lot for work presented some issues with childcare too. Setting up on her own has given her the flexibility to work around her child’s schedule. “You fit a lot more into your day,” she says. “I really start working after she goes to sleep. I’m never quiet, I never have a lazy day.”

Babygrows has hit the ground running, taking part in baby fairs around the country that have yielded some important interactions not only with customers but also with other businesses who could be potential partners along the way.

“It’s a big change,” she said. “I always wanted to do something myself.”

Next on the agenda is designing her own range of bamboo baby clothes instead of simply reselling the Silkberry range.

But that path to a successful business is a tough one, as many have discovered, and it’s no different whether your business is run from an office or a bedroom.

“We’ve always pushed the boundaries that bit further to satisfy the vision and ambition,” says Craine. “That drive to succeed is what pushes entrepreneurs regardless of sex or the size of the company.”