Interview: Anna Louise Simpson, entrepreneur

Published on Friday 8 October 2010 17:30

WHAT does an international businesswoman and award-winning entrepreneur look like? Power suit, statement watch and 'It' bag that cost the equivalent of the average mortgage?

Or how about that woman struggling along the beach with a buggy, chatting into the iPhone strapped to its frame?

You might not think Anna Louise Simpson looks like the head of a global business as she manoeuvres her two pre-school children and two dogs along the sand, but you'd be mistaken.

The 36-year-old mother-of-two from Cramond set up the Mama Teas range of herbal drinks a year ago and now runs the business from her home part-time, supplying customers from as far afield as South Africa and America. Her products sell in leading supermarkets and she has just been named Best Start Up at the Mumpreneur UK Awards.

"I've been down on the beach at Cramond in a gale-force wind, shouting into the phone and someone will say, 'Where on earth are you?' But it's part of my brand; I'm the mama in Mama Tea. Of course, if I had a very detailed negotiation to do, I would take the time to focus on it and not call from the beach. But women are at the forefront of change and so many of us are running businesses this way, juggling it with family life," she says.

"Having an ecommerce site will allow me to grow. The internet and social media suit women entrepreneurs because 60 per cent of users of social media are women. We're tribal in our buying habits and talk a lot to each other. That's why seeing our raspberry tea being discussed on mumsnet.com is a great coup for us."

As well as the raspberry leaf and rose petal tea, the caffeine-free Mama Tea range includes a ginger and chamomile brew, rooibos and elderflower, spearmint and chamomile and a fennel and lemon balm, all blended on the advice of a medical herbalist.

As the name hints, Simpson's thriving tea business grew directly from her experience of becoming a mother to Arabella and Alexander, now four and two. The former lawyer suffered a lot from morning sickness during pregnancy but found that the teas she was advised to drink to alleviate the symptoms were unpalatable.

"I was told to drink raspberry leaf tea, but I just couldn't drink more than one cup because it tasted so bad. The other herbal teas I had to drink weren't that nice either and I thought, 'Why does everything have to taste so bad?' I realised there was a gap in the market.

"We have always focused on the taste because if something doesn't taste good, you're not going to drink it no matter how good for you it is. And it has to be tea bags, because who can be bothered with loose tea and having to clean the pot? We chop up the loose leaf tea for you, which is why it tastes so good."

Simpson worked with tea blenders and succeeded in attracting not just pregnant women but a broad spectrum of customers who want to drink natural teas, including her husband Philip.

"Our biggest market now is people who are not pregnant.

This article was first published in Scotland On Sunday, 17 October, 2010

They just like the taste of the tea. They say, 'You're not a pregnancy product, but a herbal tea that tastes good'," she says.

Another motivating factor for Simpson in setting up her business was the fact that after the children were born she suffered from post-natal depression and decided she needed an interest outside the family.

"It was awful. Starting Mama Teas and giving myself a goal to work towards and having some time to myself gave me light at the end of the tunnel. It helped me get over it. Every mum works hard and being a stay-at-home mum is more difficult at times. I found it really hard and went slowly crazy not having anything to strive for."

Having identified a gap in the market, Simpson went full steam ahead with her business plans, but found that financing it was a challenge.

"We used all our savings and holiday money to set up Mama Teas. I would advise others, whatever sum you're thinking of, double it. To establish a brand you have to spend a lot of money and take a big hit, but things are taking off now. And make sure you have a good background team of accountants, lawyers and IT people. Although it's just me in the business, I've got experts who are helping.

"We're in Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons and winning small contracts all the time. The world's largest maternity retailer has just put in an order. But I'm not worried about it getting too big because it's completely outsourced. In future I'd like to take on staff and my ultimate dream is to manufacture the tea here. It's my goal to sell to every country in the world."

Today, Cramond beach, tomorrow the world. n

JANET CHRISTIE

www.mamatea.com

This article was first published in Scotland On Sunday, 17 October, 2010