Why young mums are leaving the corporate world and starting their own businesses

Natalie Norman, founder of Growbright, and her son Liam. Photo / Supplied

Like many young mums, Natalie Norman couldn't find a balance between home and work life so she left her job in product development to start her own business.

Women make up 38 per cent of all self-employed Kiwis, and research from MYOB's Business Monitor Survey shows they are more likely to start a business for flexibility or because they are passionate about what they do. Men are more likely to start a firm to make money.

Norman, a mother of two, left her job at the Comfort Group in 2015 where she ran product development for non-bedding products.

"It was quite a busy job, a huge product range. Quite chaotic but fun, which I really loved. I left a few weeks before I had my son," Norman says.

"After about six months I started to feel a real need to be doing something.

"I had this dream of how I could provide information to mothers that was simpler and in a less confusing way but really didn't know how I was going to do that. I had this dream to build some sort of thing that could simplify a whole heap of information."

So she set out to create a cot mattress business which offered a product she couldn't find on the market.

Norman launched Growbright last year and her website went live in July.

Baby-related businesses, many started by mums leaving the corporate world, are a growing trend in New Zealand.

Norman puts it down to the power of mummy bloggers and mothers being active online.

"Social media these days, we're all on it, and we see people doing things and it makes you think 'how can I bring something that I feel passionate about [to the market]'?.

"There are so many smart mums at home wanting to do something but it's a real challenge because you've got children that need to be looked after, and we all want to be there with our kids ... and so, if you can work for yourself from home it's a way of keeping in there and not feeling like you've lost yourself."

Norman loved the corporate world but found it hard to fit it into her lifestyle, like many women. "A lot of jobs now are 24/7, you're on email all the time, you need to stay late, and it's not that easy.

"When you're passionate about something you've got a lot more [freedom], you can make your own decisions, and you make it fit around your life," she says.

She says entrepreneurial mums were developing products to cater to modern-day needs.

When you're passionate about something you've got a lot more [freedom], you can make your own decisions, and you make it fit around your life.

MYOB general manager Carolyn Luey says there are many reasons why women become entrepreneurs.

"They might be striving for financial freedom, or it could be because they need more flexible work arrangements, further their education, volunteer or pursue other interests."

Thirty-nine per cent of female business owners said they started a business for flexibility, according to MYOB's Startup Report, while 32 per cent of men said the same.

First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson said New Zealand was seeing a change in perspectives in the corporate world. That, paired with the local baby-retail category having little choice of mid-range products, meant it was no surprise many mums were starting businesses to fill the void.