Fab Women

Name: Mandy Haberman
 

Age: 57

Family members:
Husband Steven (Director Cass Business School)
Twins: Nadia and Ben, 33 yrs Both married.
Nadia m Robin, son Jacob 3yrs
Ben m Jessica, son Murray 2yrs, daughter Sadie (Baby). Living in Toronto
Emily 31 yrs Doctor

Previous Career: Graphic Designer

What is the name and nature of your business?
Inventor and Entrepreneur. Creator of Haberman® Feeder and Anywayup® cup
Current business – Haberman Products Ltd – We invent, develop, manufacture and supply products for the infant feeding market. Our motto is ‘Inventing better ways’.

What inspired you to start it?
I view my business career as being divided into 3 eras. Each has been the result of a life experience:

 

1) The Haberman® Feeder Having successfully breast fed our twins for 9 months; I was devastated when Emily was born with feeding problems, due to Stickler’s Syndrome. She couldn’t breast or bottle feed. Eventually, I improvised a method to get milk into her using a dummy and syringe, which allowed her the comfort of suckling and gave me the pleasure of being able to feed my baby without tubes up her nose. After several years of research into how babies’ breast feed, I developed that improvised idea, into the Haberman® Feeder which has since been used in hospitals worldwide for nearly 25 years. I ran that business by mail order from my kitchen table, before licensing my technology and trade mark for worldwide distribution. 2) The Anywayup® cup My next invention was the Anywayup® cup. I had the idea for it when Emily was 10. We were at a friend’s house and there was another mum there with a toddler. The toddler ran across the room with a conventional trainer cup full of Ribena and left a trail of sticky pink stains on the cream coloured carpet – a parent’s nightmare! At the time, trainer cups consisted of a cup, lid and a spout with a row of holes. Turned upside down they became watering cans. Children loved that and used to sprinkle juice everywhere. I knew the problem well, I had the stains on my carpet to prove it. When my kids were small, I just got on with the mopping. But, ten years later, I was able to look at the problem objectively. It suddenly occurred to me that what was needed was a cup that could seal by itself, the moment it came out of the child’s mouth. I knew that, if I could solve the problem, it would be a winner - a 'must have' product for every family. I set to work. It took me several years of development and tweaking, until I had a product that wouldn’t spill a drop, even if it was shaken or dropped. The Anywayup® cup was born! I knew that this would sell in big volumes –I couldn’t do this from my kitchen table. So, with a patent in place and my trusty prototype in my bag, I went to see 18 European companies who were in the nursery market. They all loved it. One even called it the ‘Holy grail of trainer cups’, but at the end of the day – nobody took the license. Looking back, I think that they were just risk adverse. They they preferred to be second to market with an established product, rather than risk investment in something unproven. I ended up walking around with the cup in my bag for about a year, before I decided to take the plunge and set up my own company. Before going into production, we exhibited the prototype at a couple of trade shows, to test market reaction. After just 2 trade shows we had so many orders that I had to get into production really fast. I practically slept on the factory floor. We achieved full production from scratch, within 3 months and we didn’t lose a single order. By the end of our first year of trading, we had sold half a million cups, we were in two major supermarkets chains and the business was in the profit! The rest is history; my technology now sells about 40 million cups a year, worldwide. 3) Haberman Products Ltd Having revolutionized the trainer cup market, I turned my attention back to feeding. Clearly, there was room for significant improvement in the bottle market: Rather than use available bottles to give their babies expressed breast milk, breast feeding mums, with healthy babies, had been going to great lengths to source the Haberman® Feeder through hospital suppliers. So, my team and I have spent several years looking at breast feeding and analyzing the needs of mothers. We wanted to create a completely new way to feed that really would support breast feeding, give optimum wind reduction without overwhelming the baby and, in every way, be ‘better than a bottle’©. We have now developed intellectual property for a revolutionary range of feeding products and have set up, Haberman Products Ltd, to launch them under the Anywayup® brand. In addition, the UK company that had latterly manufactured and supplied the original Anywayup® cup, under my patent license, went into administration and the Anywayup® cup disappeared from the shops. So we will be relaunching that too, together with a brand new cup design.

How does it fit in with family life?
Apart from a short spell of employment as an interior designer, since having the children, I have always worked from home. I started in 1982 when Emily was 2 yrs old and twins, Nadia and Ben (4yrs) were at nursery for half the day. Initially, I used to take Emily to meetings with me. I remember one meeting with a high powered consultant. I sat across the desk in his very posh office, and Emily sat on the floor - throwing all my papers in the air!

It was often stressful. It was the days before mobile phones and my biggest nightmare was being delayed on the tube, on the way back from meetings in London, when I was supposed to be picking Nadia and Ben up from nursery.

Biggest learning curve so far?
Like most people, when I started out, I thought that a granted patent automatically gave you a 20 year monopoly in the market. It came as a shock to learn that it doesn’t quite work like that. Nor does having a patent granted necessarily mean that your patent is valid.

The Anywayup® cup was an instant success. We very quickly took a 40% share of the UK market. Our competitors were not happy! The former market leader, Tommee Tippee, fought back by launching an infringing product. Our sales plummeted almost overnight. We realised that we had to stop them and set a precedent, otherwise others would copy and our business would collapse.

I thought suing an infringer would be straight forward. I even had legal costs insurance. However, when I went to my lawyer, I had a very steep, and very fast learning curve.

I learnt 3 things:

1) I learnt that if you sue for infringement, it is normal for the other side to challenge the validity of your patent – and it can be revoked. In the UK, the loser pays both sides costs so, even in a simple case at the High Court; the liability could be over a £1m. 2) I learnt that my insurance cover was only enough for about two meetings with my lawyer and a cup of tea! I had to risk my house, in order to enforce my rights. Thankfully, my patent was judged to be both valid and infringed so I won the case and recovered damages and most of my costs! 3) The patent system is scary, but it does work!

I have since enforced my patent rights in the USA and Europe. Companies now request licenses, rather than risk infringing.


Most positive experience?
Belief in my product gave me the courage to go out on a limb and do something radical – that paid off!

I started selling the Anywayup® cup, in 1996. It was tough. We needed big volume sales but the supermarkets wouldn’t deal with a one-product company.

Determined to succeed, we took a chance. We filled an Anywayup® cup with juice, and placed it loose inside a large white box. Then, we posted it to the head buyer of Tesco, with a note that read, ‘If this reaches you as a soggy mess, then we have shot ourselves in the foot. BUT, if it reaches you without spilling, please call us!’

It worked! Our trusty Anywayup® cup hadn’t spilt a drop. We were on the shelves within weeks. Other supermarkets followed and within a year we were in all the major supermarket chains


Where would you like to be in five years time?
We plan to exit our business in 2016/17 by which time, it should have substantial value. After that I will semi-retire but I hope to continue writing articles and doing talks and interviews etc to encourage and inspire other aspiring inventors and entrepreneurs. I might even write a book about my experiences. The rest of my time I intend to spend enjoying our gorgeous grandchildren and travelling.


What advice would you give to other mothers hoping to combine motherhood with a new business idea?
Starting a business is going to be tough. It’s going to involve a lot of juggling and compromise. You will probably feel pretty stressed out. On the other hand, it will take you into the world of grownups again, provide stimulating balance to your life, be intellectually and, hopefully, financially rewarding. So, first of all, ask yourself if you really, REALLY want to do this? If the answer is passionately ‘Yes’ – then read on.

1. Check your proposed product or service fulfils a need that can’t be met in a cheaper way – otherwise no one will buy it.

2. Invest in a babysitter for the day and visit the Business and IP Centre at the British Library. They will guide you through the whole process and equip you with all necessary skills, including searching their incredibly useful data bases www.bl.uk/bipc/
3. If you are creating something original, look at the UK Intellectual Property office website to see what intellectual property rights can be used to protect it www.ipo.gov.uk If you need a patent, don’t skimp and try to write it yourself – it’s a job for professionals. Go to www.cipa.org.uk

4. Women frequently have difficulty in talking themselves ‘up’. Even if we are brilliant at doing something, we tend to say’ I’m quite good at…’ So, believe in yourself. Go to these websites for truly female inspiration, motivation and encouragement go to www.moretolifethanshoes.com and also, www.shesingenious.org
5. Finally, make sure that you have the support of your family and friends.

6. Go for it!
Mandy Haberman is a successful entrepreneur and inventor. She invented the Anywayup® cup, the first non-spill cup, in the early Nineties. The cup has had phenomenal worldwide success selling millions of units a year.

Mandy has won many prestigious awards for her innovative inventions and was recognized by HM Queen Elizabeth as a ‘Pioneer to the Life of the Nation’ in 2003.

www.mandyhaberman.com