Sunshine Coast businesswomen: Mums creating thriving start-ups
From bub-friendly overalls to rice paper rolls: How these mothers created thriving new businesses on the Sunshine Coast.
Business
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From foodies turning their hobbies into a business to eco start-ups, Sunshine Coast mums are creating successful businesses.
Take a look at some of these successful ventures that have been launched by inspiring mothers.
She Shed
From living in car with three children to opening and running her own ‘safe space’ for other women, a Sunshine Coast mum has defied the odds.
Kerrie Burrows launched The She Shed at Maroochydore in 2019 with the aim to create a space for women to hang out and be creative.
“For me there is a really deep seeded passion around women and making sure women are OK, no matter where they are at in their journey,” she told the Courier Mail in 2019.
The business idea was born after a close family friend was diagnosed with cancer. Ms Burrows turned to furniture restoration during her grief when buyers starting to ask her to run workshops.
The Aerodrome Rd site was transformed from the former iconic yellow auto electrician building into the comfortable and calming space it is today.
There are two spaces available in the building for entrepreneurs to host creative arts events and up skilling workshops with a focus on empowering women in the local community.
Laundry Lady
The founder and single mum behind a Sunshine Coast mobile laundry company is expected to double her $1m revenue following surging growth from recently expanding interstate.
Susan Toft originally created Laundry Lady on the Gold Coast in 2012 as a side hustle while working for a corporate marketing company with the long-term aim of creating better work-life balance for her family.
After moving to the Sunshine Coast in 2017 for family reasons she left her marketing career when the pandemic swept the country to focus on growing Laundry Lady by expanding across Queensland and interstate.
Her business last year generated more than $1m in revenue which is projected to double by the next 10 months.
Vietnomnom
What started as a hobby has turned into a thriving business with a Sunshine Coast mum and her sister opening their first Vietnomnom takeaway food store.
Hien and Hoai Phan opened their first store at Nambour this month after Vietnomnom grew too popular to operate from a food truck.
Hien, 31, said she started the business less than two years ago because she “wanted a hobby” while her two children went to school.
The business with everything from rice paper rolls to bahn mi and pho gained a loyal following at markets from Noosa to Caloundra with rolls being the hot menu items.
SH Extensions
A 26-year-old Sunshine Coast single mum has turned her passion for hair into a booming online business turning over almost a million dollars a year.
Samantha Harrison’s SH Hair Extensions in Coolum was started 10 years ago under former name In Your Dreams Hair Extensions with only a single chair in front of the TV in her living room for a workspace.
Fast forward a decade and her venture into the online e-learning space has paid dividends, filling a gap in digital business education in the beauty industry, as well as drastically increased in-person appointments.
Ms Harrison said her decision to branch into online education and later in-person workshops was prompted by a need to diversify her business following the emergence of Covid-19 in 2020.
“I wanted to create something nobody else had, I didn’t want to just teach people how to create hair extensions, I wanted to teach people how to create a profitable, home-based hair extension salon, so I put everything that I do out there into a course.”
The Mumsie
A mother-of-two has grown her business from operating in her basement to having a retail store in Noosa Junction and a warehouse.
A “light bulb moment” during a frantic morning drop-off led to Noosa mum Janneke Williamson starting an innovative business that now has a loyal following.
Since launching The Mumsie in 2018, mother-of-two Janneke Williamson’s innovative idea has grown into an international business.
The mumsie is the ultimate outfit for parents that incorporates a baby carrier into comfortable overalls allowing for easy hands free moments with children.
Ms Williamson said the idea was born out of need.
“I had a three-month-old girl, and I was at kindy drop off for my son, who was four and … I was juggling lunch boxes, school bags, hats, shoes, handbag, phone, dummy, sanity while fumbling with a baby carrier,” she said.
Go For Zero
Within three years a Sunshine Coast mum has gone from storing products in her garage to making a seven-figure revenue with her popular eco start-up business.
Go For Zero was founded by Ellie Degraeve in 2018 from her bedroom after she learnt about the harsh chemicals commonly used in skin care products following the birth of her youngest daughter.
The mother of two was stunned by the lack of information about the ingredients used in everyday items and the knowledge gap among many on how to live more sustainably.
This led her to establish the business as a pop-up in Caloundra where she sold outsourced environmentally friendly items stored in her garage.
Now her successful business is based out of a 320sq m Kunda Park warehouse and has a following of more than 37,000 on Instagram.
The Sourdough Co
What started as a lockdown pastime has become a thriving family business as a Noosa mum plans to take her recipe for success international.
Noosa Sourdough Co founder Elizabeth Halley took up baking sourdough for her neighbourhood during the lockdowns in early 2020 after she was made redundant from her former job in car rentals due to the pandemic.
After receiving numerous requests for her recipe she began creating sourdough starter sachets which quickly turned into a side hustle.
She now co-owns a full-time sourdough business alongside her husband Michael Halley and their 18 year old son William.
“I always wanted to do something involving food but I just didn’t know what or when and it‘s not until you get forced out of your comfort zone that you let those creative ideas come to life,” Mrs Halley said.
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