MUMZWORLD, the first all-around marketplace for mother, child and baby care products.
Mona Ataya, an award-winning entrepreneur shares with us about her passion to empower mothers, make a difference to the community and how she started a business geared towards mothers and baby care.
Shopping for kids is enervating. One of the biggest challenges mothers face is to find the right resources and products for their babies. It’s difficult to make choices, to look for the perfect quality and pricing. To put your mind at ease, the budding entrepreneur launched ‘Mumzworld’
Mona Ataya is the CEO and founder of mumzworld.com the leading e-commerce vertical for all things mother, child, and baby care. She has been an entrepreneur for 18 years and this is her second successful venture. She is also a mother of three boys – two teenagers and the kindest 11-year-old.
When did the entrepreneur bug bite you? Why a mother, child and baby care business?
I was not empowered as a mother to make informed purchase decisions for my children hence launched ‘mumzworld’. I felt stuck – I couldn’t be the great mother I really wanted to be. So ‘mumzworld’ came to life.
The vision was to create the largest community of mothers who have access to the largest choice of highest quality products at their fingertips in one place, at the best everyday low prices, with comprehensive information to make informed decisions and delivered quickly and conveniently to the mother directly.
We would create a community of mothers who support and encourage each other. No more wasting time frustrated that I could not get my child the right book or educational toy or inspiring experience that will help them in their journey of childhood. Mumzworld would change all that.
Today we have over 2.5 Million mothers in the Middle East engaging with us and we are empowering the region one mother at a time.
This mission is part of my mission as a mother and therefore I am able to reconcile daily my work and my role as a mother and caretaker.
How you differentiate your company against other e-commerce sites?
Mumzworld was the pioneer in the vertical specialized e-commerce space for mother-baby and child in the Middle East region and has been the leader ever since. The brand is today a respected household name amongst parents in the region and boasts many firsts.
MUMZWORLD today has the deepest choice of products for mother and child from maternity all the way to pre-teen with over 250,000 products across 2000 global and regional brands to choose from of which 25,000 were exclusively found on Mumzworld. That’s why mothers say “when you’ve shopped on Mumzworld, you’ve shopped everywhere”.
The second, mumzworld serves over 2.5Million regional mothers making it the largest community of mothers under one umbrella in the region.
Mumzworld provides mothers with only authentic products sourced directly from the brand and manufacturer which is why the brand is trusted by mothers for all their purchases. It is the ONLY fully bilingual Arabic and English site in the Arab world and APP that serves this customer in her language of choice. Mumzworld supports mothers also with comprehensive content for all stages of her motherhood.
How do you balance your entrepreneur life with friends that don’t understand the challenges you experience?
An entrepreneur’s life is stretched and pulled in every direction. It is oftentimes a lonely, high risk and
It is not for everyone. Balance is a daily struggle and you rarely find equilibrium. However, all that pales relative to the end goal an entrepreneur is driven by. When your business has a social impact on its core DNA, then the challenges become part of the exciting journey. Nothing impactful comes easy.
What meetups, local entrepreneur events, and accelerators do you recommend that have helped you grow?
I am very active in the community, get involve in speaker circuits and participate in the year-round community speaking events and CSR.
I am a member of Endeavour, a global network of high impact entrepreneurs. Also the Communication chair for the UAE chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organisation.
I’m also mentoring Female entrepreneurs throughout the year. I am also actively Mumzworld has allowed me to do what I love and that gives back to this regional community that I love and that is home. As a woman, An Arab and a Palestinian I have grown up understanding the importance of giving back and supporting our ecosystem.
Who were mentors that encouraged you?
My parents, my siblings who are all entrepreneurs. I also consider every encounter as a learning and a mentorship opportunity for me.
If you could time travel back to day one, of your start-up and have 15 mins with your former self to communicate any lessons, what would you tell yourself?
The single most important asset that grows an organization is its people. Hire the best from day one.
The best is not always the most skilled.
Hard work, intelligence, optimism and to have a deeply committed vision for the company are the few qualities of the best team. They are problem solvers, have grit and integrity, and work super-fast in this ever-changing world and want to create a meaningful positive impact in this world we live in.
You hire great people, you build a great organization quickly,
You have won numerous awards in the past years, voted amongst the 100 most Powerful Arab Women 2014 and 2015, voted amongst the World’s 100 Most Powerful Arabs and the list goes on. When you started your company did you ever think you would have so much recognition 5-6 years down the line?
I feel
But these awards are not my motivation, rather a re-enforcement of things going the way they should.
What advice would you give to young women who want to succeed in the workplace?
Don’t launch a business if the financial reward is your only motivation. Financial rewards will not be there in the short term and they are not worth the pain and the compromise.
Mona Ataya, one of UAE’s most prominent female entrepreneur.
Launch a business if its potential impact is greater than you. Launch a business if it has the potential to solve KEY REAL consumer pain points and hence has true intrinsic value. That’s the type of business that will change the ecosystem and that’s the type of business that is worth the endless hours and compromises.
