Mandy Haberman

Early Life and Eduacation Mandy Haberman is an English entrepreneur who specialises in Infant and child care products. She is the Founder of Haberman Products. Haberman never viewed herself as an entreprerer growing up and attended Hornsby College of Arts and was awarded her degree in graphic design from Saint Martin’s School of Art in London (1). The spark that drove Haberman to innovate was the birth of her third child Emily in 1980 (1). Emily was born with Sticklers Disease which meant that she stuggled to breastfeed (2). Emily spent 4 months in the hospital until it became clear that in order to be discharged it was essential that she was able to breastfeed without the assistance of tubes. Given that no bottles on the market worked, Haberman was forced to innovate with the creation of the Haberman Feeder which has now been used in hospitals around the world for the past 40 years (1).

New Innovations After the success of the Haberman Feeder, Mandy continued her entrprenerial spirit and chose to focus on issues that she, as a mother of three, dealt with on a daily basis and how to fix these problems. In 1990, Haberman Product’s most famous product was launched, the AnywayupCup (3). After watching a toddler spill juice all over a white carpet, Haberman realized the need for a leak and spill proof cup that children could use (3). The AnywayupCup was a state of the art non spill non leak sippy cup however despite the ingenuity of the product, large retail stores were reluctant to do business with Haberman Products because the company was viewed as a one product company (3). To overcome this the company sent their product, filled with juice to potential buyers for these companies, with a note that read “If this reaches you without spilling, give us a call!”. The juice stayed in the cup and the AnywayupCup reached shelved weeks later (3). The product has sold over 42 million units over the past 30 years (3).

Intellectual Property and Infringment Legal Battles In addition to being an innovator and entrepreneur, Mandy Haberman is well known for being a staunch advocate for Intlectual Property and Copyright infringement laws. Following the invention of the AnywayupCup, Haberman had several “several high-profile David and Goliath court cases” to defend the IP that she considers the backbone of her company (4). She was successful in these cases and they have set a precedent for IP law in the United Kingdom since. Following these legal victories she was awarded female innovator of the year in 2000 and the AnywayUpCup was awarded multiple awards including Best Consumer Product and the overall 3M Award for Innovation categories at the Design Effectiveness Awards as well asthe Tommy Award for Most Parent Friendly Innovative Product (4). Latest Inovations Haberman’s latest innovation, which occurred in 2013, is the Suckle Feeder. The Suckle Feeder is a baby bottle that regulates the flow of the baby formula in order to better simulate natural breast feeding (5). The paced feeding is backed by lactation experts and prevents over feeding which can lead to childhood obesity. Today Mandy Haberman sits on the UK Intellectual Property Steering Board, The Editorial Board of Patent World, the British Libary’s Business Board as well as the IP Centre Project Board (4). In addition to sitting on these Boards, Haberman still runs Haberman Products which continues to grow every year. She says that as an innovator “life is never boring” (4) over the course of her career as a business owner and innovator she had grown from a “mum with a good idea”(4) into the CEO of a company that has completely changed childcare for the better as well as an advocate and expert on IP Law and Copyright Infringment.

The nice thing about being an inventor is that life is never boring. I will always try to find time to provide direction, help and encouragement to other would-be inventors. I started out as a mum with a good idea. A total novice in the world of business, intellectual property and law. It’s been an interesting journey. I’ve learnt a lot and I endeavour to pass on that knowledge on to students. I passionately believe that every young person should be equipped for life with at least a basic understanding of intellectual property.