It’s from mums for mums
MAKING IT WORK
Driven by the desire to empower women to make the best decisions for their children, Mona Ataya, CEO and founding partner of Mumzworld.com, recognised the importance of offering mothers both quality and value for money.
“After becoming a mother, I realised that there was no one-stop shop in the UAE where mothers could quickly and conveniently compare and purchase quality products for their children. As a mother, I did not feel empowered with choice and I was unsure of the right purchase decisions for my children. I had endless questions about what to buy, where to buy, how much to pay and who could help me. I spent a lot of time online researching which products were safe, what to read to my children and how to raise smart, contributing and happy kids. Once you educate yourself about what you should buy, the next question is where to find it,” Mona says.
Mona, along with her co-founders, decided to fill the gap by launching Mumzworld.com, a comprehensive bilingual shopping and information portal for mother, baby and child products from newborns to 12-year-old children.
“Mumzworld is a virtual shopping space founded by mums, for mums, we like to consider ourselves a friend for mothers in the region; providing busy mothers with access to an unrivalled range of amazing products, a speedy delivery service, and more importantly, access to an online and offline community of likeminded mothers,” she says.
Mumzworld has a catalogue of more than 120,000 products from over 6,000 regional and international brands. The website offers same day delivery for diapers, with two to three days delivery for other products. “But Mumzworld is more than just an online shopping outlet. It also offers product information and reviews to help buyers make informed decisions, discuss and share experiences to parenthood and child rearing. We have built the largest community of mothers in the past five years with hundreds of thousands of mothers coming to us daily from across the GCC and internationally for their buying needs,” Mona says.
Mona considers herself fortunate to have enjoyed solid expansion over the past five years, from product portfolio and supply chain to our geographical reach, which now extends to 20 countries around the world.
“We now ship to 20 countries around the world including Saudi Arabia (Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar), Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman,” she says. Elaborating her future strategy Mona says that the UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are Mumzworld’s biggest markets so far and continued growth in these markets and throughout the GCC is key this year.“You will see more and more personalised and tailored Arabic content for the KSA customer as well as continued innovations in customer service,” she says. “Everything Mumzworld does as a company is done so with the purpose of making a mother’s life easier and really understanding what they need in order to support them every step of their journey. It’s this fundamental understanding which ensures an intuitive and streamlined online shopping experience and is why Mumzworld has been a leader in the online retail space for mother, baby and child for the past 5 years and recognised as the ‘go to destination’,” Ghayath Sioufi, chief marketing officer.
Mona believes that today’s environment is more conducive for startup with the fast development on technology front.
“Technological advancements certainly encourage the entrepreneurial spirit and make it more achievable. Now more so than ever, startups can connect with and reach audiences on the other side of the world, research necessary information and produce a niche product or service with the click of a button in many cases,” she says.
We have built the largest community of mothers in the past five years with hundreds of thousands of mothers coming to us daily from across the Gcc and internationally for their buying needs Mona Ataya, CEO and founding partner of Mumzworld.com
Mona agrees that the lack of payment solutions was one of the main reasons for low growth rate for e-commerce in the region.
“Any new technology requires customer education on the safety, security and benefits of use. E-commerce was no different, and while we may have experienced initial inertia towards online payment, the industry has grown significantly in recent years as has security technology. There are, of course, still customers who prefer the traditional cash on delivery method of payment, but generally, e-commerce is continuing to grow and the outlook is good for us,” she argues.
Last year Mumzworld closed a successful Series B round of funding with multi-milliondollar investments led by Wamda Capital and 6 other investors. The online portal is planning to raise another round of funding soon.
“As long as the business continues to grow quickly and with solid economics we will continue to invest in the growth of the business and find like minded investors who would like to join us on this journey. The investment this year will be focused on driving customer focused initiatives, with emphasis on optimizing technology and logistics operations and increasing product offerings and line extensions to elevate the online consumer experience,” Mona explains.
Khaled Talhouni of Wamda Capital, one of Mumzworld investors says: “We look to back exceptional teams of entrepreneurs, the team behind Mumzworld is one of the few regional teams that have been able to scale their business effectively with limited resources.”
Mona advises young entrepreneurs and startups that the life of an entrepreneur is not an easy one, and it’s not for everyone.
“It’s a 24-hour job, 365 days a year. You push yourself because you are driven by a vision and a commitment to doing something impactful and important, but you must also make significant sacrifices along the way. The only advice I would give is this: Be smart, be creative, surround yourself with winners, and be sure of what you are setting out to do and you will get to where you need to be eventually,” she concludes.
— riaz@khaleejtimes.com