We are very pleased to bring you our first stockist feature. We’ll be featuring our fabulous stockists regularly here and we hope you enjoy learning more about them and their businesses.
Our first feature stockist is Jungle Mama. I first became aware of this natural parenting business back in 2007 when I participated in the Cloth Nappy Hunt in August of that year. I was very lucky to win one of the grand prizes, and included in the prize pack was one of the cooperative games that Jungle Mama stocks. Jungle Mama carries a great range of products in support of natural parenting including the Manduca soft-structured baby carrier.
Read on as Liz Neill shares about her business:
Please share a bit about you and your family.
My partner and I have 4 children, aged 21, 16, 10 and 7. We lived in Auckland until moving to Lower Hutt in 1998 to be closer to my partner’s extended family, unfortunately taking us away from my parents, but we see them often. Our children have spent their preschool years at Playcentre and attend the local Steiner school. I am still involved with Playcentre myself as a session supervisor, workshop tutor and SPACE facilitator.
When did you start Jungle Mama and why?
Jungle Mama was started just on 5 years ago now. A friend was pregnant with her first child and I was sending her links to wonderful items from all around the world. I emailed several companies and asked whether they had NZ distributors so she could get items locally. Two of the companies came back to me and said ‘We’d love you to be a NZ distributor!’ Not quite what I was expecting, but we discussed it at home, the timing was right and Jungle Mama was born. We were the first in New Zealand to carry the ERGO Baby Carrier range as well as the DivaCup and Infant Potties. That precious friend of ours has just had her third child, and all those lucky babies have been worn in baby carriers and pottied from birth etc. It is wonderful to have been a part of that journey with them.
What do you like best about running your own business?
I love the flexibility of running a business around my other commitments and the needs of a busy family, but my favourite thing about running Jungle Mama is enabling parents and babies to make strong connections with each other. Supplying environmentally friendly products for babywearing, infant pottying and more, as well as sharing information and support is the integral part of the empowerment I love to see in families.
What is your favourite product that you stock?
One of the most interesting products we stock is the DivaCup, a reusable menstrual solution. I like to mention that one, as it’s the product people are least likely to ask about perhaps. The DivaCup is worn internally (and can’t be felt when positioned correctly) and works by catching the menstrual flow. The cup is then removed, emptied, rinsed and reused over the course of each cycle and for many years.
Diva Cup available from Jungle Mama
For the growing family we carry a selection of the Family Pastimes Cooperative Board games. These games are great for fostering teamwork and problem solving, as all players work together against the game itself.
Co-operative game 'Kakapo Rescue'
We also have copies of the UK publication, The Mother Magazine.
But my favourite are the little potties for Elimination Communication. So cute for tiny bottoms, and so simple to use as they are held between the adults thighs to potty a tiny baby in arms, can be used from newborn through to toddler, when the infant is nursing, or sitting upright with their back against your belly. It’s great to have two, one at home, and one in the car or to take out with you.
What is your best selling product?
The sales patterns of the different product goes in phases which I find fascinating. For the first half of 2010, with them being so new to the NZ market the Manduca carrier has been my best seller, but before that it was more likely to be clusters of the infant potties or DivaCup.
Thank you Liz for sharing about your business. We are pleased to have you in the My Natural Baby family!
Helen
My Natural Baby
