Nurturing ideas into a thriving business

MANILA, Philippines — If there was a Breaking Barriers Award for Breastfeeding, Mi’Ann Reyes-Oblea would be a sure winner.

The UP alumnus with a Business Administration degree under her belt was on the right path of building a management career. After graduation, she worked as product manager for Home Cable during its heyday. Five years later, when the telecommunications industry was exploding, she moved to Smart Communications to build a premium client base with Smart Gold and Smart Infinity. When digital banking was taking off, she joined the leading foreign bank in the country to promote its online banking platform, Citibank Online.

While with Citibank, she became pregnant with her first child. Most women find this to be both an exciting and frightening time – nurturing a new life and having to make what feels like hundreds of decisions – from choosing your doctor, where and how to give birth, names for your baby, to hire help or not and so many more.

And while first pregnancies can be a confusing period for most mothers, Oblea was crystal clear on one thing: she will breastfeed her child and do it exclusively. Three children and eight breastfeeding years later, Oblea’s family is thriving and so is her “fourth” child – Babymama – acknowledged as the top breastfeeding store in the country.

Tell us how Babymama started.

When I was pregnant, I promised myself that I would exclusively breastfeed. I started taking malunggay everyday when I was still pregnant and all throughout my breastfeeding. I forged through bleeding and pain which felt like 10/10.

I also prepared by buying a breast pump from abroad, thinking ahead for when I had to go back to work. The breast pump I bought was good but expensive. I thought to myself this would be a stretch for most moms if they wanted to buy a great breast pump.

On my second pregnancy, my doctor put me on bed rest so I decided to resign and shortly after that, I that launched Babymama.

Browsing your resume, you’ve worked with a cable company, then a telco and finally, a bank. What did you learn from these industries that equipped you to become a CEO overnight?

With all companies I worked for, we provided a service, not a product, so I learned to see customers as people and not just a one-off sale. For Babymama, we see the moms as our clients for a long time, and moms do come back, when they’re pregnant from their first to third child and they even bring their younger sister, cousins, workmates or friends to our store.

We are committed to providing a service, as well as being honest and consistent in all touchpoints. We guide our customers in buying the best breast pump suited for their needs and not just the most expensive one. We even guide moms on how to store their pump so they can use this again when they have another baby. I’m really happy when I hear customers say that the pump that they used for the first baby is still alive and kicking 10 years after.

I didn’t see myself as a CEO overnight! For the first five years, I just saw myself as an all-around worker: I was a purchaser, marketer, customer service, bodegera, driver and packer, all in one.

Can you share the top three things that turned Babymama from an idea to a thriving business?

Babymama was always focused on breastfeeding so we didn’t overstretch to compete with other baby stores. Our product line is focused on providing all things a breastfeeding mom might need but we eventually added a lot of baby and mom stuff due to demand. But our core is still breast pumps and breastfeeding items.

The business started growing when I began hiring people. I waited five years before I hired my first three employees but it really made a difference on how much more we could do with our individual contributions. I understand how a lot of business owners would be scared to entrust their “baby” to other people. Mom business owners are especially hands on. But I guess I’m the trusting type and I also fully trust my employees to do their job, make decisions fix problems or issues on their own.

We also try to be available where our customers are – whether it’s through a physical store, an e-commerce site or social media. This is only possible with good people that handle our physical locations, e-commerce stores, online presence and back-end operations.

And just like that – Babymama is 15 years old. How do you stay relevant?

Since I’ve already aged out of our target market, I rely on my young, energetic and social media savvy employees to brief me with what’s happening and we execute. It takes guts and energy to jump into new trends or personally get out of my comfort zone, but we have to for the company’s sake.

We also go abroad to baby expos to check out the latest products. All my staff from customer service to sales and marketing regularly take breastfeeding seminars since some breastfeeding issues shouldn’t be solved with a breast pump. For other tasks, it’s more on the job training but I really work closely with our store sales and customer service so we have the same tone and level of service.

Babymama carries a wide range of brands from different parts of the globe. How do you choose which brands to offer to your clients?

I look for the right blend of quality and price in products. The price can range from affordable to a bit high end, but the quality should always be worth the price paid.

We also work with manufacturers to bring in quality products under our house brand, Wisemom. We started Wisemom as an alternative to Spectra, the Korean brand we exclusively distribute. Not all moms can afford Spectra and our aim with Wisemom was to provide the best breast pump that moms can afford.

When moms purchase a breast pump from Babymama, they know they can expect great quality and great customer service.

With social media, customer feedback now comes fast and loud. Can you share some that stand out which were shared by your clients? How do you handle negative feedback, if any?

One that stood out to me was when a Dad messaged us during the first months of lockdown. He was really grateful that we were the only store that managed to keep ourselves open. Our company tested weekly, divided our operations into Team A and Team B, and had to get all those passes for our riders to be able to continue to operate.

For the negatives, sometimes our customers are already angry at the beginning when they contact us. We always try to see where they’re coming from, communicate with empathy and address their complaint right away. What’s really great is when an angry customer literally transforms into a happy customer and even says she will recommend us to her friends.

Babymama is not just a retailer, but also a breastfeeding advocate. Can you share information on your Milk Bank project?

We’ve been supplying human milk pasteurizers and breast pumps to private and government milk banks for years. I contacted the manufacturer of human milk pasteurizers 10 years ago when there was just one human milk bank in existence in the Philippines. The owner flew in right away from the UK to meet with me and see if he could entrust me with their distributorship.

I think what convinced him was that even if my business was just five years old then, I was a breastfeeding mom with a lot of sincerity to promote breastfeeding in the Philippines.

We also sponsor breastfeeding classes or milk drives. We do a lot of tie ups with breastfeeding groups especially during breastfeeding month.

For mothers, and fathers too, who are looking to become their own boss, what advice can you share?

Start now, because the sooner the better. Great ideas are just ideas, any imperfect action will always trump a perfect idea. Even if you make a mistake or several mistakes, the sooner you start, the sooner you can fix the mistake or recalibrate.

Do what you love or what you know really well so you don’t have to rely on other people with your idea. It’s also much easier if you believe in what you sell and you’re passionate about it. It won’t feel like work.

For my final advice, believe in yourself. Believing in yourself is easy during great times, but it’s believing in yourself when times are tough, when you draw on that well of strength that you didn’t know you had, that will get you and your company through. Believing in yourself is also muscle that you train, the more you believe in yourself, the tougher you get.