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The Ecopreneurs out to change your life; (1)Growing market: Joanna Pearce's used baby gear site has great potential (2)Celebrity supporter: model Lily Cole wearing an Urth gold leaf pendant ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Sophia Money-Coutts and Deborah Collcutt Business brains: (left to right) Joanna Pearce (with son Joshua), Sara Simmonds, Nicola Giuggioli, Sharon Walker, Briony Greenhill and Daphne Boulicault.

Publication: The Evening Standard (London, England)
Publication Date: 09-APR-08 		Format: Online
Delivery: Immediate Online Access

Article Excerpt
Byline: Connie Allfrey

THE BABY GEAR RECYCLER JOANNA PEARCE 34, founder of www.NappyValley.co.uk What's the big idea? An online marketplace for parents to buy andsell good quality used baby gear. By uniting local buyers and sellers, car useand postage is minimised.

Eureka moment: "My son, Sam, was nine months old and I wanted to return toworking, ideally from home.

Northcote Road in Battersea, where I live, is nicknamed Nappy Valley and Irealised there was a potential market." Seed money: Joanna set aside [pounds sterling]10,000 ofher own and concentrated on the design of the website. "It had to be stylishand easy to use." Joanna did market research among mums she knew and came upwith a dummy website. She employed a professional web designer and launchedNappyValley in September 2006.

How it grew: By May 2007, when Joanna's second son, Joshua, was born, thebusiness was growing slowly. "It took about a year for parents to trust it butnow our traffic is five times what it was a year ago." It costs [pounds sterling]500 a month torun and at the moment returns are lowif a visitor buys something from an affiliate website, Joanna earns five percent commission.

Where it's going: The business was endorsed on television by mother-tobe TamsinOuthwaite, who intends to use the service. Joanna plans to expand the businessnationwide and has already appointed agents around the country to introduce theservice.

Eco rating: 9/...

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