South-East mum and founder of an innovative start-up, Chrissy Dupé is a finalist in the Product Award, Product Innovation, and One To Watch categories for the 2022 AusMumpreneur Awards.
The awards celebrate and recognise Australian mums in business achieving outstanding success in areas such as business excellence, product innovation, and digital services.
Chrissy’s three-year-old daughter is the inspiration behind her business Gigi Bib.
When she was a baby, Gigi was really difficult to settle and the only way to get her to sleep was to feed her, but taking her bib off would always wake her again.
There was no bib on the market that was easy and quiet to remove with one hand while nursing her in the other, so Chrissy set out to design her own unique ‘one-handed, wake-proof’ baby bib.
“I had always been interested in inventing things and coming up with new solutions to existing problems. And that’s how Gigi Bib was born,” she said.
“Gigi was born with a very rare genetic condition called Mosaic Trisomy 20 – so I want to use my business as a platform to raise awareness and advocate for people living with rare diseases, like our one-in-a-billion girl.”
Ten cents from each Gigi Bib sale is being donated to Rare Voices Australia – the national body that advocates for the two million Australians living with a rare disease.
Chrissy was delighted to be named as a finalist and is proud of building her business from the ground up, including two and a half years of research and development, design, testing, patenting and production, while raising her daughters.
She said there were many benefits to balancing business and motherhood.
“It’s just such a great feeling knowing that you’ve built something that’s truly yours — and being able to create a unique product that has the potential to help not only your own child, but many other people too. That’s really exciting.
“The journey of an entrepreneur can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also get pretty lonely, and the obstacles can seem insurmountable at times. But if you have a genuine desire to make a difference for people through the work you do, you’ll find the courage to push forward and make your vision a reality.”
The winners of the AusMumpreneur Awards will be announced at the Awards Gala Dinner on Thursday 1 September.
