SME Interviews

An Interview with Momtrepreneur Laddale Borreo-Sy, M.D., General Manager of Luli

Momtrepreneur Dra. Laddale has been thinking of setting up an online all-natural baby shop for the longest time. Why this advocacy? This thought started when their first born contacted Skin Asthma/Eczema. She tells us more about her business idea in this interview. It was just last August 2012 when she took the leap and decided to give it a go. Basically, Luli is really just a baby in the industry, according to doctora, but even if the are fairly new, she continues to say that they have “been so blessed to have a roster of loyal clientele already and we are so thankful for that”.

Dra. Laddale and Family

At the Babypalooza Bazaar: her first ever bazaar!

Here is my interview with Mommy/Doctora Laddale.

Ginger: Hi Doc! Can you tell us more about your business?

Laddale: Luli is a little online shop showcasing all natural, mostly organic, multi-purpose, and locally handmade, reasonably priced products that your family and mother earth will surely love. What we carry are our favorite all-natural brands — BIODEGRADABLE AND SAFER ALTERNATIVES from the usual commercial products lingering everywhere, jam packed with harmful and unnecessary chemicals!

We carry a variety of products from Economical Cloth Diapers, Fabulous Nursing and Baby-wearing gears, Lovingly Handmade Soaps, Messy-no-more Green Cleaning Solutions, Safe and Natural Bath and Body Products, Wonderful Wooden Toys, Amazing Stain Removers (yep, still all-natural) to Marvelous Malunggay Products! And of course, since my husband and I have little princesses, we incorporated well-made “kikay” items to accessorize our babies with to make them look cuter 🙂

Dra. Laddales favorite bath buddies! By Nature Handmade Soap

Ginger: Where did the name Luli come from?
Laddale: For our store name, we initially thought of lili&lulu, from our daughters’ nicknames, Lily and Lulu. We found it too long though, so we settled for Luli, which was easier to remember.

Ginger: What makes your store different from other online stores?
Laddale: What is unique is that we try as much as we can to be transparent, honest and generous with product information. If applicable and amenable to our suppliers, we include manufacturing dates, best before dates, expiration dates, prices per given volume/weight, dimensions, product container, etc. of the products we carry. We try our best to give you a visual feel of our product line. In so doing, we believe, that you will get the best of what you are looking for.

We also are strong advocates of REDUCE, REUSE, REUSE, REUSE, and RECYCLE. We try as much as we can to be resourceful and eco-friendly as possible with our packaging. So don’t expect fancy pansy wrappings and colorful, brand new boxes on our shipments. What’s more important is that the product inside and packaging outside are safe for you, and safe for the environment 🙂

Messy-No-More Green Cleaning Solutions from Messy Bessy

Have a warm, aromatic, and healthy cup of all-natural Moringa Tea infused with Pandan

Ginger: Who is your market?
Laddale: Luli caters to like minded individuals who believe in the benefits of natural, organic and earth-friendly products. Families who share our advocacy of natural parenting would also find our store a one-stop shop for their needs as well.

Ginger: How did you come up with this idea? What made you decide to start this kind of business?
Laddale: Everything started when Liliane, our first daughter was diagnosed with Atopic Dermatitis (Skin Asthma/Eczema). After exhausting commercial medications to provide relief of her itching and dry skin, we started researching for more worry-free and hopefully more effective and economical remedies to soothe her symptoms. Our search for these alternative drived our thirst for everything natural and organic. And because these products delivered their function very well (so far no flare-ups of her itch-scratch cycle since we started her on naturals), we decided why not share this wonderful advocacy that is natural parenting to fellow Filipinos. Hence, Luli.

But the number 1 reason for our pursuance of this venture is our decision to provide the best care and guidance to our precious little girls, especially in the crucial first 3 years of their lives. We believe that this can only be accomplished well if parents will be very hands-on at home. And since I temporarily postponed my hospital training, I still wanted to help provide for our family, so we decided that we open a small online store. To be honest, income isn’t much in this business. But the happiness brought about by being a Work-At-Home Mom is enough to fuel start-up of this business. And income is income, no matter how minimal.

Help increase your milk supply with 500mg of Malunggay capsule with added bonus of Vitamin C!

Ginger: Were there any obstacles that you faced when you decided to pursue becoming a momtrepreneur? What are these?
Laddale: Being a business nincompoop, probably is the number 1 challenge for me. Those 9 cumulative years I spent in becoming a licensed physician obviously didn’t have any business 101s. But with guidance and support from my family and fellow momtrepreneurs, and of course with God’s blessings, I am, so far, coping with these challenges. Also, we don’t have any help at home and I do most of the cooking, household chores and business operations. We are still in the process of mastering time management, but we’re slowly getting there.

Ginger: What do you think are the three traits that a momtrepreneur should have when starting their own business?
Laddale: Actually, you only need just 1 — PASSION. Passion drives everything in this business. When you are genuinely passionate in what you do, faith, hardwork, patience, trustworthiness and good client relations, becomes automatic.

Ginger: What advice can you give to other Momtrepreneurs?
Laddale: I’m very honored to be asked of this question. We are still new in the business but being asked for advice to fellow Momtrepreneurs and those planning to venture in this business is very humbling. To my fellow WAHMs, just keep your passion torch burning and continue to innovate, create, inspire and impart knowledge and skills to our fellowmen. To our would be Momtrepreneurs or those thinking on getting into being WAHMs, GO FOR IT! Don’t overthink! Remember we are women, blessed with powerful instincts. If you feel that this is good for you and your family, just do what research you can, and then go for it! We may feel doubtful or timid at times but these are just normal feelings for mothers thinking of leaving work to stay and work at home. But of course none of these will be possible without blessings from our Almighty, so prayers really are very important. We should continue to learn, strive hard and pray to be able to sustain.

Ginger: Thank you, Dr. Laddale, for your time! We are looking forward to interview you again in the future. Wishing you continuous success in your business.

Luli Contact Information:
a. Website/Multiply site: http://www.lulibaby.multiply.com
b. Email address: liliandlulustore@gmail.com
c. Mobile Number: 09176305082
d. Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/lulihappyearthbaby
e. Twitter account: http:www.twitter.com/luli_happybaby