Have a Mooch at these inspirational mumpreneurs!

by Claire on Sunday 01 April 12.

Lifelong friends and mums of children under 5, Yuva and Aneesa, couldn't believe how expensive cotton bedding and nightwear for kids was in the UK. After lots of research and feedback from Yuva's family in India, who have been producing hand block printed garments and lifestyle products for over 50 years, a business idea began to take shape. In 2010, MoochicBaby was born!

On offering something different to the norm…

"We design and manufacture hand block printed children's bedding and nightwear. Our prints are unique, vibrant and fun and since our launch we have had an overwhelming response to our collection. All of our products are made entirely from 100% cotton (including the stuffing in our quilted blankets) making them all extra soft and snuggly! Also, all our products are machine washable."

On fusing the traditional with the contemporary…

"We believe that our products offer a uniqe combination of the age-old craft of block printing at an affordable price, allowing this to no longer be the domain of only a select few mums. Our prints are unique and we’ve spent a lot of time on our products in an attempt to create products that will capture the imagination of a child."

On friendship as a basis for a successful business…

"We've known each other for so long, we cant actually remember how we first met ! We were introduced by Yuva's sister who used to work with Aneesa in her previous incarnation as a city lawyer. One sunny afternoon, after we’d walked the kids up and down a park at the end of our local high street in a vain attempt to get them to take a nap, we each casually chatted about how we wanted to channel our creativity into a range of childrens’ products and decided there would be no better way than to do it together!"

On juggling business with kids…

"Aneesa has a 4 year old girl Ayaana and has just given birth to a darling little boy Shivaan - mumpreneurs don’t get maternity leave! - and Yuva has a daughter Ahana who is 2.5...going on 15! The big commitment you have to make as a mumpreneur is to be disciplined about not working while you’re spending time with the kids and vice versa. The most productive way to work is to separate the time you spend on the two things; the big advantage is that you’re not bound to a 9-5 schedule and its acceptable to send work emails at 11.30pm if that works for you!"

On working through the challenges…

"The absolute best part of doing this is that we've been blessed with the most receptive clientele any new business could hope for. The biggest challenge has been living up to their expectations and continuing to develop and grow our collection to include other products of equivalently high quality while maintaining a competitive price. Also, as all of our products are hand made over 5000 miles away, we cannot always meet specific requests from customers for a particular print."

On bringing MoochicBaby to all mums…

"We have a dream that MoochicBaby will one day be a household name for young mothers; that a craft born in India will become a part of every mother’s layette. We want mums to enjoy the quality of our products and allow the creativity that inspires our prints to add a dimension to their child’s world."

On how to make it a little easier…

"Organisation is the key! Keep a written record of every little thing you do, because boring jobs like accounts and cash flow management can get out of hand in a matter of days!"

You can find MoochicBaby on Facebook.