Rising Stars Top 5 in Entrepreneur & Startups 2018

Helen Davies | Status Products & EasyTots

My name is Helen Davies. My story to the point I am now at;

Education days: 1995 -1998

My favourite A level subject was psychology and back in 1995 I was amazed to achieve the second highest mark in the country for all students that year undertaking A level psychology with that particular exam board, I receiving a commendation award letter and an award ceremony at the college I then attended Priestly College in Warrington. Needless to say as a result, I went on to study Psychology at The University Of Leicester. I actually went through clearing very last minute as I was planning a career in Zoology due to my love of animals , but due to the exam result I achieved I made a brave U turn on my degree option and I am pleased I did.

My Employment days:1999 - 2005

3 years later on graduating with a 2:1 in 1998, I went on start a career within the education service helping young people with issues. I gained my counselling qualification and worked as a learning mentor in a Salford school for 3 years (Harrop Fold School which was featured on the recent 'Educating Manchester' series). During the period 1999 - 2002 My time there was incredibly rewarding, I learned so much about life and I cared so much for the children I worked with, it was often hard and all people that work in the care environment should be commended for the work they do . I was at the time adopting a truly 'person centred' approach and helping my case students move forward. I suppose I was easy to relate to those young people, as at the time I was still young in my early to mid 20's. In 2002 - 2005 I married and moved to the Midlands where I spent the next 3 years as a Connexions personal advisor working across multiple schools in Nuneaton, with young people aged 13 - 18, where additional support was needed. My job back then was to help young people overcome their barriers to learning and life obstacles so that they could realize their potential and access the support services they needed. Most important was giving people skills and choices to make informed decisions to enable them to enter a working life, empowering themselves , despite adversity.

My first Business: 2005 - 2017

Whilst I loved my career, I always had ideas about growing a business and becoming an employer. Despite the fact I had no training at all in business I reflect back and realise I had a true entrepreneurial spirit that was eager to get out. I was in my mid to late 20's and I was married to a hard working window cleaner. In 2005 the 'Work at Height' health and safety laws changed. This meant there was an opportunity in the market to stand out as being a 'safe contractor'. I sold my first little terraced house and invested the entire 50k profit into the set up of our commercial window cleaning company in 2005. My husband carried out the work whilst I headed the company as Managing Director. I learned the industry from scratch, leaned how to deal with B2B customers and how to interact in a corporate environment. The risk I took back then to leave my secure, rewarding job and set up a window cleaning company was in hindsight quite huge! We didn't have 1 single customer the day our shiny new van arrived, but by 3 years later in 2008 and 2009 we were shortlisted as a finalists for the Midlands Business Awards ' Business Of the Year' and me personally ' Entrepreneur of the year' . Although I never won the category it was a tremendous recognition of just how far the business had come in a short time. By 2012 we had national coverage employed 18 people and some of our clients included The BBC (entire London portfolio) BP, Cadburys, RAF and Fort Dunlop Birmingham.

My Second (and current) Business: 2016 - to present

This is a business I could never have imagined myself in, A business that I just 'fell in to' and have since loved beyond anything else I've ever done so far. Nov 2014 I gave birth to my second daughter Keira. Whilst on maternity leave I came across a common problem that many parents face during the weaning stages. Quite simply she was a little monkey who got far more enjoyment from throwing her food, bowls and plates more than anything else at mealtimes. I wanted to encourage independent feeding and learning but it was difficult as nothing stayed put. I researched what was available in the UK for mums like me to buy and was disappointed with the options. I searched further afield and found that the USA had advanced in this area, having already identified the same problem.

As a result I embarked on self funded mission to design my own unique product that I could bring to the UK and solve this common problem experienced by parents in the UK. I named my brand EasyTots, I knew very little about growing a brand or the baby products industry so again was learning from absolute scratch. I immersed myself in this project and travelled to China alone to source a manufacturer that could help me achieve this. Just 8 months and 2 prototypes later I was happy and had my first ever own brand product to market, The EasyMat. The EasyMat is a silicone plate and placemat in one piece with integrated happy face sections for food and 4 very strong corner suction cups. The response to my product overwhelmed me. It fist launched on amazon early March 2016 and by May 2016 it was a bestselling item in the category. In fact I was struggling with supply and demand. It was at that point I decided to leave my previous business behind and give EasyTots the 100% commitment from myself to take it forward. We gained an international and USA trademark for EasyTots and EasyMat in Oct 2016, which we were thrilled about. Since then in Dec 2016, I launched the EasyMat Mini, a miniature version designed specifically for eating out and travel feeling with babies. This second product was an immediate best seller on amazon, and has sustained that ever since. EasyMat Mini has won a 2017 gold award for 'Best Weaning' item and was showcased on ITV's This Morning with Phil and Holly in a best baby gadgets feature.

I've travelled China twice now on my own, I felt brave to do this and empowered at the fact that my business was even leading me to now travel the wold. Its quite amazing what paths life offers us if we take them and this path for me, has so far been the most exciting so far!

In Sep 2017 I exhibited our EasyTots brand and range at our fisrt ever global trade fair in Cologne. This was my fisrt oportuity to offer our products on a distribution baiss for export internationally to other countries. The response was amazing and we now sell our EasyMats to 5 other EU countries. Just a few Months later in Jan 2018 I tralled to China Hong Kong /baby Fair, where once again I exxhibited my UK brand at one of the worlds largest globals baby products trade fairs 'Hong Kong Baby Fair'. The response from Asia to our products has been phenomanal, we have already secured distribution agreements for Tiawan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

EasyTots is only 2 years old, and I have so much more to add to my products range this year.

My mission is to to continue to make innovative, creative and useful products, in fact our slogan is; 'practical stuff, made fun'. My vision is for EasyTots and its products like EasyMat to become a UK (if not international) household names. A must have item for children, a recognised brand.

My daughter Keira is now age 3 and she has no idea that her messy eating led me down this path. I will always be grateful to her for that!

Thank you

by Alison Fearn