
Can you really balance profit and purpose?

But in how we make decisions, and who we?re accountable to, the children are the owners of From Babies with Love.Our owners are not our investors; they don?t have any capital. Plus we don?t use retained profits to grow ? because we give all the profit to the children ? a 100% dividend if you like. RB: Are you exploring other financing options? CC: We?re currently exploring a revenue participation investment model, where our investor gets a financial return straight from top-line revenue, plus a social return measured by the number of children their investment supports. RB: Social purpose is a key part of your company mission. How far does your impact go?

Engaging consumer emotion through products and a social purpose
RB: What came first, the idea for making infant products, or wanting the profits to go to social causes? CC:?When I first had the idea for From Babies with Love, I had become a parent. I was in a children?s shop, and I picked up a baby garment and thought, what if I could buy this and at the same time help a vulnerable child? That idea spoke to the powerful emotions of parenthood and make me feel that I?d done something really positive. Just in buying the product I was going to buy anyway. I assumed this was already possible, went home to find it online, discovered it didn?t exist, and so From Babies with Love was born.Do gender labels still follow female entrepreneurs?
Cecilia Crossley says motherhood helped her identify the space for selling quality products that helped society too. Source: From Babies with Love RB: How do you feel about the term ?mumpreneur’, is it an empowering or a patronising term? CC: Patronising; male parent entrepreneurs aren?t by and larger dadpreneurs, are they? I prefer the term Social Entrepreneur, meaning someone who establishes a business with the aim of solving a social problem or effecting social change. RB: Have you ever felt pigeonholed by your status as a mother in business? CC: I once took a pushchair into a meeting with a huge financial services company. It was the only way I could make the logistics work and actually, it was an ice-breaker and no-one cared.It showed my determination and desire to be at the meeting ? which are good things to convey when winning new business.Sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done, and laugh! I didn?t have proper maternity leave when my second son was born, that was tough. We were working on our strategy, developing our brand and our first collection, there was so much to do but I just had to slow it down. I try to be strict knowing that when I say yes to one thing I?m saying no to another. I find it hard because there are lots of wonderful opportunities and ways we could grow, but being sharply focussed is the only way to hit a balance between work and family that?s right for me.
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