Britain’s inspiring most mothers
Today we proudly unveil five amazing women who’ve juggled setting up a business with small children — and been shortlisted for our Mumpreneur of the Year award
The secret, darling, is to love everyone you meet, from the moment you meet them JOANNA LUMLEY
During the first year after starting up her nursery, Freya Derrick, then a single mum of two, would set her alarm for 2am each morning.
Half-asleep, she’d stumble to the washing machine, unload and hang up the freshly washed cloths and sheets for the babies arriving that day. For not only was she the founder and managing director of her fledgling business, she was also cleaner, cook and laundry woman.
Everyone makes sacrifices to build a business, but turning it into a success when you have young children is doubly difficult. it requires self-belief, passion and a fearsome ability to organise your life at precisely the time you’re sleepdeprived and breakfast-spattered.
Which is why the Daily Mail has teamed up with natWest Everywoman Awards to celebrate the success of women who combine motherhood and business. Our Aphrodite ‘Mumpreneur’ Award is a special accolade for women who founded their business while raising children aged 12 or under.
We were flooded with entries, but the women featured here are the ones who stood out for their resilience, versatility and willingness to take risks to make their business a success.
The ‘mum-economy’ — businesses run by women with children aged 18 or under — generated £7.2billion for the nation’s coffers in 2014.
Yet men are still much more likely to be entrepreneurs, while a third of female business owners in a recent survey said they’d experienced some form of discrimination.
Our mumpreneurs have proved the doubters laughably wrong. We hope their stories will inspire you . . .