Parents in Business featuring Mini Mealtimes

This week on my Parents in Business series I’m featuring Marie who created the fabulous Mini Mealtimes app to help parents make informed choices about what to feed their children particularly if they are looking for reassurance and ideas during the weaning phase. The idea came into fruition after Marie felt hesitant to start weaning her son and as a result developed an interest in cooking and nutrition. 

That idea has created a successful business that was featured on the BBC even before the app launched and raised £5000 as part of a crowd funder initiative. If this sounds up your street and you’re interested in how Marie has created a successful business then read on…

Tell me a little bit about you, your background, and your business?

I originally wanted to be a lawyer or a journalist growing up and then I fell in love with fashion and studied Fashion Promotion at uni with the intention of going into PR. Which I did for a while but discovered my skills were very transferable to advertising. After having my son my priorities shifted and I wanted to work but around his schedule.

What were your motivations for setting up your business?

I breastfed for over a year and was very hesitant to start giving my son solids. There seems to be a push to give kids solids earlier and earlier which studies indicate may be a cause of the childhood obesity crisis were in. Breastmilk is the only food on earth that is perfectly nutritionally balanced and I didn’t want to give that up, thankfully I was lucky enough to have no issues with it. I also was a first time parent who was scared of making the wrong choices, because you just want the best for your kids. So i really became interested in cooking and nutrition.

Since setting up your business what has been your biggest success to date?

I’ll always been proud of been featured on the BBC especially as my app wasn’t even on the market yet. I recently ran a successful crowdfunding campaign and was so pleased with the result. My friends, family and the Mini Mealtimes community really supported me and we raised over £5k. I was especially pleased because parents are so busy and it was during the school holidays so I had a lot of donations from people who were sat on a beach which I feel really validates the idea. And I’ve just become involved with Bethnal Green Ventures which is a investment fund that only invests in tech for good startups.

What’s your top tip for anyone who is thinking about setting up their own business?