Meet the “Ma” behind Numa: Katherine Ang-Tan

Sometime last year, I won a blog contest and received a gift check from Numa as my prize. Even before then, I had already heard about Numa, mostly through social media and blogs, and I’d always wanted to visit their store and get some of their products.

Although I still haven’t been able to do so, I was privileged to be able to meet the people who started Numa - Katherine Ang-Tan and Gerald Sioco - at the recently held Philippine Homeschool Conference. I was also able to interview Katherine about how Numa began and about her life as a mom/business owner.

The Beginnings of Numa
In 2010, while pregnant with her son, Bradley Spahm, Kathy started looking for organic and eco-friendly baby products for sale locally. To her disappointment, she saw that most of the products were only available online, and only a few were organic and eco-friendly. This is why she thought of opening Numa (pronounced “new-ma”).
 
“I contacted my best friend from grade school, Gerald Sioco, and asked if he would like to do this with me,” Kathy shares. “I am rather adept at operations but my introvert personality cannot cope with the marketing side of the business. That's where Gerald comes in — he's a marketing-savvy person who doesn't fret at social events.”

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Kathy says that she chose Gerald as a business partner not only because of the trust and friendship that they had, but also because they share the same faith and the same business principles.

“It was also very important to me that his strengths are my weaknesses and his weaknesses are my strengths. It helps us make business decisions more objectively and from different perspectives. I do the operations and behind-the-scenes business processes, while he does the marketing and public relations,” Kathy explains.

“To be more detailed, I study business processes and create systems to ensure a smooth flow. I oversee the different departments like HR, Operations, R&D (Research and Development), Creative and Finance,” she discloses. “Meanwhile, Gerald handles the Marketing, Public Relations, and Business Development side of the business.”

Like Mother, Like Daughter
Prior to starting Numa, Kathy was already learning the ropes of running a business from her mom, who owns the baby garment company, St. Patrick.

“I’ve been working there since I graduated in 2003, so I was able to hone my skills for nine years,”Kathy says. “My mom is very strict and is a perfectionist, so that helped me to improve my standards when it came to doing business, as well as in running Numa. I actually still work for my mom as the Administrative Director, and I basically do the same thing for Numa.”

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What Makes Numa Special
According to Kathy, Numa is the first brick-and-mortar store that offers organic and eco-friendly baby products in the Philippines. “We've also invested heavily in training our sales assistants so that they can help mothers make informed choices when shopping for their babies,” Kathy adds.

"We also designed the store to make it very comfortable for moms — especially pregnant moms — to shop in: from the ambiance, to the mood music, to the smell, to the colors, right down to our very cozy rest lounge.”

On Balancing Home and Family Life
Kathy actually partly credits their “wonderful and able” staff in Numa for her being able to fully breastfeed Bradley for a year. “We are blessed that they are able to help us run the business, so I wasn’t required to be very fulltime at work for the first year of his life,” she says. “It’s by God’s grace, really.”

“I was able to breastfeed even while still working for my mom and managing Numa. It helps to realize one’s strengths and recognize one’s weaknesses, so that one can also accept help from others if needed,” Kathy adds, “I guess the best way to achieve a work-life balance is to understand that you can never do anything alone.”
 
On Reaping the Rewards of Business
When asked if Numa is financially-rewarding, Kathy had this to say: “Let's just say that for the almost two years that Numa has been in operation, we were able to pay our bills on time, we have been paying all required taxes correctly and timely, and have enough funds left to import additional product lines. We haven't covered for all the investments we have made yet but, slowly, we hope to get there.”
 
Kathy also clarifies that Numa has actually become an outlet for them to create an environment that they personally would like to shop in, and to be a company that people would like to do business with. “It isn't merely a business,” she says. “It has become a vocation to do business the right way.”

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Numa Products: Customer-approved and Baby-tested
Kathy says that Numa’s R&D staff research for new products and they also get ideas from feedback forms and requests from customers. “My baby actually uses most of the products sold at Numa,” she shares.“If a product isn't effective, we contact the supplier to give feedback.”

“We also do a biannual business review to study the performance of each product and brand,” she adds.
 
Mompreneur Tips from Kathy
Kathy shares what she’s learned about being a mompreneur for those out there who may want to give it a go: “For me, there are two types of mompreneurs: those who became one by necessity and those who became one by boredom.
 
Some moms need to be mompreneurs to help the family financially and thus every peso to be invested in the enterprise must be evaluated and re-evaluated because they cannot afford for the business to fail.

For these moms, I (and Gerald) suggest fast-moving essential products with the least risk, like milk bags, baby bottles, etc. — merchandise that you already have a market to cater to.

Be prepared to fight on price though, since you need to expect a lot of competition in this kind of market. So it is best to look for the cheapest source of your goods or services to remain competitive. Selling online would be able to cut on costs as well.
 
For moms who became mompreneurs from sheer boredom, perhaps you may have more time on your hands to enter a niche market. With this, it will help to ask other people for their needs that are not being met by the current offerings in the market.

You may look for venues to manufacture your idea or to look for a supplier abroad that has already come up with a product to meet this need but isn't available in the local market yet. Expect to spend a lot on marketing to educate your target market.”

Above all though, Kathy advises all aspiring mompreneurs to ask themselves if what they're doing is providing a creative outlet for them. “If it does and you find fulfillment in it, then you've found your niche,” she says.
 
Click here to browse through Numa’s products.

To find out more about Numa, the Organic & Eco Baby Store, log on to www.numa.com.ph or visit their Facebook page (Numa Baby). You may also send an email to info@numa.com.ph or call 7321954.