Name: Little Ragamuffin
Based: Bedford
Website: www.littleragamuffin.co.uk
As two middle-aged mothers facing redundancy in 2011, we decided to combine our personal and commercial experience to set up Little Ragamuffin Children’s Interiors to offer accessories that could enhance a child’s bedroom or nursery to a familiar demographic: mothers and children.
In establishing our business model, we adopted an approach to building our supply chain to ensure that we could offer quality products at affordable prices, maintain optimum stock levels and despatch orders within 24 hours.
As a start-up with limited resources, a home-based business was a necessity not an option, allowing us to work longer, more flexible hours to fit in with family life and keep overheads to a minimum.
Our ethos is to work closely with both suppliers and customers in a personal manner, which we believe is paramount in building relationships that last and contributes towards efficiency and success.
Having the opportunity to work from home has been one of the driving forces behind the business, allowing myself as one of the owners to be able to cope with the medical needs one of my children who has been unwell for the last five years. After finding a rare lung tumour last December and surgery in February, she has needed constant attention and being at home and working is essential. This for me has been critical as I am here for my children and run our business which is going from strength to strength.
Janie Reader is director of Little Ragamuffin
