NEW LIFE:Andrea Kinahan went from a job in an oil company to selling practical baby presents, writes MICHELLE McDONAGH.
LIKE MANY new parents, mother-of-two Andrea Kinahan had been on the receiving end of a wide variety of totally impractical baby gifts such as tiny new-born outfits that baby will grow out of within a week and silver-plated first tooth and curl holders. Very cute admittedly, but not very useful!
It was after the birth of her second baby that Andrea came up with the idea of setting up a website specialising in practical baby gifts and offering new parents the option of setting up a baby list, similar to the concept of a wedding list which would include practical and necessary items such as sterilisers, bottles and baby monitors.
A native of Cabra in Dublin, Andrea had worked as a supervisor in an oil company, a job she thoroughly enjoyed, for a number of years. However, when her first child, Cian, started school she found it very difficult to access childcare for him.
She decided to take matters into her own hands, leave her job and set up an after-school club for children in Cabra four years ago. The children are collected from local schools and provided with after-school activities at the club – which is still running – until their parents collect them in the evening.
It was after the birth of her second child, Raghnaid, two and a half years ago that Andrea and her partner, Anthony, began to think seriously about setting up a baby equipment website that would offer products at a fair price to consumers.
She recalls: “Neither of us had any experience in IT, we went in blind. We imagined setting up a website on Monday and having it up and running by Wednesday.
“On our first meeting with a web developer, we had our daughter, Raghnaid, who was six weeks old with us. We researched web developers to see who could best serve our needs as we wanted a professional-looking website and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback on it.”
Cian (now 11) came up with the name of the new company, BubbleBaby (www.bubblebaby.ie) and the couple started sourcing suppliers of quality products. They began with a couple of suppliers and have been constantly adding new products and suppliers since they went live in May 2007.
“We did a survey online and spoke to a lot of parents. The basic consensus across the board is that people get lots of stuff that’s not practical, or they didn’t like or got duplicate products.
“It’s an expensive time and there are so many things parents actually need, for example, money towards a steriliser or a Moses basket.”
Having worked as a warehouse supervisor, Anthony is in charge of the logistics side of the business arranging deliveries, while Andrea works from home processing orders and talking to suppliers.
“It’s great working with your partner but it can be hard to switch off in the evenings. We both have individual roles so we don’t step on each other’s toes, and we can swap roles if we need to,” she says.
Having been able to set up the site and get the stock for a relatively modest amount of money, Andrea is well aware that it will be two to three years before they see any return on their investment.
They plan to open their new showroom at Blanchardstown in March so that customers can view their range of more than 1,000 products.
With her younger child now in playschool and her son in primary school, she is able to combine motherhood with running the website and the after-school club.
She explains: “Family and friends are a great help. Everybody just works together, it’s like going back to the 1950s when everybody relied on parents and family for childcare.
“I think women are just fantastic multitaskers anyway, no matter what’s put in front of them, they just do it. I find combining work and motherhood easier than my partner finds combining fatherhood and working.”
Andrea went through the creche experience with her first child and is thrilled to have the flexibility to combine working from home with motherhood now.
She is also actively involved in the parents’ council at her son’s school and tries to make every match he is playing.
“There are certain things we can put aside until after the kids go to bed. It’s very important for me that we sit down to dinner every night with the children and don’t get too swamped into the business.
“It’s the small little things that kids remember. Sunday is for the kids, we go to the beach every Sunday 20 miles away for two hours in the morning in our wellies. As my dad always said, time costs nothing.”