Windsor mums Charlotte Evans and Carolyn Jarvis are now just as likely to be seen in industrial China as at the gates of Trinity St Stephen’s School.
For the fortysomethings have become international businesswomen since Charlotte, a former nurse, came up with an idea that has since won them awards, and backing from Dragons’ Den.
“As a mum with three small children and a pushchair I used to struggle,” Charlotte explained. “I wanted to be hands free in the supermarket and I wanted to carry my purchases without my pushchair tipping over. I used to lie in bed at night and think, why doesn’t something exist? I couldn’t understand why someone hadn’t thought of something.”
It was while Charlotte and Carolyn were walking their dogs that the seeds for the Buggyboot holdall were sown.
“I was a market researcher for pharmaceutical companies and Carolyn a social worker training in child protection, but we were both ready to get our teeth into something else,” said Charlotte. “I said I had an idea but didn’t know that to do with it. It was Carolyn who got out the Yellow Pages, looked up designers in Maidenhead and started the ball rolling.
Then began what Charlotte calls ’a mammoth, mammoth journey’. “We had no idea just what it would entail and we were very naïve.”
The next port of call was to contact Business Link, who, in turn, suggested a design agency which could make a prototype. Then they started going to trade shows, making contacts and getting feedback and, with financial help from SEEDA (South East England Development Agency), put a business plan together and got a loan.
“That’s when we got to the stage where we made a proper prototype (they used local company Design Works, Windsor) and, through contacts we made at trade fairs, found out about using manufacturers in China,” said Charlotte.
“Now we go out there when we have to, probably about twice a year. That was a shock, having to find our way round industrial China in the smog, but it’s really, really interesting. I feel quite privileged. It’s worth seeing, even though it’s not the beautiful part you would like to imagine.
“I never thought we’d be going to China checking the quality of our own goods, having to understand engineering and design – how on earth did we do that?
“But we have created something, we have produced it and we’re involved in the warehousing, distribution, logistics, marketing and costing. We lift boxes, fix problems, attend trade fairs. We do absolutely everything. I don’t know how we’ve done it but the pair of us are hugely resilient, we are persistent, probably a bit stubborn, and we don’t like failure, so we put our hearts and souls into trying to make things work.”
It’s hard to believe that, after five years, four of which saw them continuing their previous careers, Buggyboot Ltd still only consists of Charlotte and Carolyn.
“We are running a business and we have had to do every single part of that business,” Charlotte announced proudly.
And proud she and Carolyn should be.
In 2008, two years after Buggyboot Ltd was established, the Buggyboot received a Special Recognition Award and Charlotte and Carolyn were both nominated for the title of British Female Inventor and Innovator of the Year Award; last year the Buggyboot Plus (with a stand-on board for a second child) won the Editor’s Choice in the September edition of Prima Baby magazine, and was in the top three finalists in the World of Moving Baby and Travelling Baby Accessories category at a global fair in Cologne.
But the most public accolade was in August 2008 when Charlotte and Carolyn won the backing of the TV show Dragons’ Den with Deborah Meaden investing £80,000.
“Naturally, it was terrifying,” Charlotte recalled. “It really is like going live. There is no chat beforehand. You have to go straight in with your pitch. You haven’t met them before and you are in there for a long, long time.”
Other TV appearances include BBC Business Breakfast and BBC Breakfast TV, ‘but they were so professional you just knew they were going to glide you through it’.
Now the Buggyboot is not only available nationwide, at Mothercare and online, but it is also being sold in Spain, Germany, Singapore, The Netherlands and Korea, and a trial order has been sent to Japan.
“It all feels a bit unreal,” said Charlotte. “People think if you take an idea to market you are quickly going to be sitting on a yacht somewhere, but it is not like that. You have to keep persevering. When you are driven you have to have a bigger goal to keep you going. There are a lot more retailers we’d like to get into, and many more countries, and you have to keep up with more products, more designs.”
So what does it feel like seeing your own invention on the streets?
“My husband Tony runs his own business in communications and events and is my biggest advocate. When he saw a Buggyboot out on the street he said it was quite emotional and a bit surreal.
“At a baby fair in Birmingham a woman walked passed me with one and said it was the best thing she’d ever bought. I was very excited and that moment helped make me think all the hard work had been worthwhile. However, you can’t bask in glory. There is always lots more to do; People think it’s a fantastic idea so we have got to keep going but we often feel out of our depths.”
Carolyn, whose husband Mark has his own business, lives in central Windsor and they have three children, Joshua, 20, William, 15, and Jamie, nine.
Charlotte, her husband and three children, Nancy, 14, Georgina, 13, and Barnaby, 11, live in Oakley Green where she has already shown she is not afraid of hard work – 10 years ago she and Tony took part of a medieval manor house which had been turned into bedsits and restored it to the beautiful, beamed home it is today.
Meanwhile, Georgina and Barnaby already have business heads on their young shoulders. Georgina wants to run her own business while Barnaby, says Charlotte, has a really good understanding of business and, it seems, of making money. On his bedroom wall he has a framed £10 note signed by Deborah Meaden. “He reckoned if she signed it he could get more money for it,” Charlotte laughed, adding: “I’m really proud that they’ve seen me give this a go. I want them to think that if you want to do something you can apply yourself.
“The business has changed our lives. It is a terrific experience and I’ve gained a different sort of confidence. But Carolyn and I still walk the dogs. I play tennis and Carolyn sings in a couple of choirs and we still have to do all the running around with the children.”
Charlotte’s advice to anyone wanting to take the same journey she and Carolyn have taken is this: “Think about the experience you already have, how much money you have to take forward your idea – and find a partner.
“I really, really believe that two heads are better than one, so find the right partner, someone you can really relate to. And be kind to each other. That’s really important.”
Clare Brotherwood is a freelance journalist with 40 years experience, more than 30 years of which have been spent specialising in interviews with celebrities and those involved in theatre and the arts, and as a theatre critic.
more can be found about Carolyn and Charlotte here www.buggyboot.com
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