The Mumpreneur Debate
Here at Mumpreneur UK, we wanted to set the record straight… What does the word Mumpreneur really mean? What do WE think of the term?
When we think of Mumpreneurs, we do NOT think of mums running baby related businesses. We run events. This is not baby related. Laura’s business is not baby related. Part of my business is, but a lot of the work I do is not relating to babies. Out of 36 Mumpreneur Award finalists this year, only 11 business were baby and child related. It’s a common mistake that people, even some people within the Mumpreneur community, make when referring to business mums. Aside from the fact that not all mums want to run baby related businesses, not all mums actually have babies. We’ve received nominations for people with older kids, teenage children and even a nominations where it’s the grown up daughter nominating her mum for an award. It’s a fact. Mumpreneurs and Babies do NOT go hand in hand. This is why you won’t see us focussing on anything baby-related at Mumpreneur UK. We’re focussing on the business related!
When we think of Mumpreneurs, we do NOT think of small home run businesses, and NOT underachievers. This appears to be another problem with the term Mumpreneur. Some may say, in some way, it puts down women who run their own business and just so happen to have a family. For me, I’m proud to call myself mum, and I’m proud to call myself an entrepreneur, so one word just makes life far easier. Some people think the term WAHM is preferable to Mumpreneur. This, I question. I would much rather be referred to as a Mum & Entrepreneur, than a mum who works at home. Where’s the enterprising, exciting, powerful woman in that? And not all Mumpreneurs work from home, afterall. For us, Mumpreneur is a word filled with power, hope and greatness, and not a word that underestimates what a woman could do.
We do not think Mumpreneurs are a group of people who’ll stand in a huddle and let no-one in and no-one out. Quite the opposite. On Mumpreneur UK we promote events and websites that are suitable for all business people. It’s important to get out there and network with business people from all walks of life, but The Mumpreneur Conference came about as we’ve learnt from experience that this is not always possible. Can a woman who is the main care provider for her children (of most ages) just up and leave the house for a breakfast networking meeting? Can a woman who is the main care provider for her children (of most ages) attend full day conferences during a week day, where there’s no childcare, or school runs to consider? So often we find ourselves struggling to attend business events because of these reasons, and this is why we launched The Mumpreneur Conference.
Here at Mumpreneur UK we welcome every business person, no matter their family situation, business sector, age or gender. It’s just that we’ve found so many events inaccessible to women with families, we feel it’s important to make a provision for that. From this, we’ve found a whole host of amazing, inspirational and wonderfully loveable people, and the Mumpreneur Community, in our eyes is something to be celebrated, and supported where this is needed.
…It’s a word, for heaven’s sake. Let’s not get aggravated by it’s origins, it’s associations or it’s apparent “pigeon holing”. Let’s just be fabulous mums, wonderful entrepreneurs, and enjoy the opportunity to gain networking opportunities with like-minded people.
by Amanda Farren, Mumpreneur UK
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