I'm available for business trips to other cities for projects lasting a month or longer.
Demfira Grishina
Stories
Demfira Grishina is the head of the socially oriented business project “MamCompany”.
I am 34 years old. I have two children. As a child, I dreamed of being a ballerina, diplomat, investigator, journalist. Many more. But I never wanted to do business. And I honestly admit, life forced me to do this.
Eight years ago, when my eldest son was born, I, as a young mother, was faced with a whole set of problems: lack of milk, lack of live information about massage therapists, ENT doctors, nannies.
After the first weeks of hysterics. I realized that being a mother is a job, and a child is a “project”. And I, as a manager, do not have enough knowledge and experience to implement this “project”. I can quickly get both by learning from experienced mothers in my city. I began to purposefully look for them. Found it. Several months passed, I myself became an experienced mother and began to share my experience. From this communication, our portal for parents mamcompany.ru grew. Where 10,000 mothers, fathers, and grandmothers from all over the Tula region and Moscow now communicate.
After the first difficulties were resolved, I, as an active person, wanted to go out into people. Together with the child. 8 years ago, not a single Tula cafe had chairs for children, and sometimes we were simply not allowed there. Having been pushed around. We simply began to do events that were interesting to us, to do them in such a way that, first of all, our own children would feel comfortable and interested in them.
So in 2009, we held the first “MomParade” with a procession of dressed up strollers, in which almost 30 mothers and children took part, and after 5 years, 50,000 people took part in the “MomParade” in Tula. It was “MomParade 2014” that took second place in the all-Russian StartUP award “Best outdoor family holiday”
Then other family events were born: a festival for expectant parents, slider championships, New Year trees for kids, and a Garage sale charity fair.
Все наши мероприятия объединяет одно – мы делаем их такими, чтобы было нескучно родителям и интересно детям.
Organizing citywide holidays is a beautiful, but expensive story. It is not always possible to receive grant funds for their implementation. That’s why we know how and attract partners. I am proud that we have truly learned to do socially significant projects by combining administrative resources and the capabilities of our business partners. This makes it possible to make high-class holidays convenient for residents, without straining the city and regional budget too much. Many large brands operating in the field of baby food and children's products took part in our events. It's a shame that we rarely find support from local large manufacturers.
When the MomCompany community began to grow, a family center appeared - this is our place of strength. Here we prepare expectant mothers and fathers for childbirth and the birth of a child, helping children from 8 months to 7 years develop their strengths and talents. Now the family center is our base, home, headquarters, where we are preparing new projects.
There is one more area of our activity, which I personally would like to say, but “non-profit” - this is providing support to nursing mothers. Our Breastfeeding Support Center is 80% funded by a municipal grant. Every year we counsel about 1,500 mothers. And if you look at the statistics. The number of breastfeeding women in the Tula region is growing every year. I see this as our small contribution.
If you take each area of our work, it is not unique. Many cities have a breastfeeding support center; almost everywhere there are local sites that unite moms; in every city there will be more than a dozen or hundreds of children's centers and schools for preparation for childbirth; If you look at the poster of any city, you can easily find family holidays and festivals for every taste.
I know thousands of stories like mine in our country. There are similar projects that are like sisters to our “MamCompany” in Kostroma, Tyumen, and Nizhny Novgorod. But there are cities where they are not. Therefore, we decided that in 2017 we will begin to hold our events in the cities of the Central Federal District.
The uniqueness of “MamCompany” is in the synergistic effect, in the combination of all these areas. This multidirectionality is not easy. Maintaining equal focus on all areas is difficult. I don’t consider or feel like an entrepreneur in a “pure” form, because we work at the intersection of “providing assistance and providing a service.” Am I confident that our business strategy is 100% successful? No. Do I want to do this - yes. Because we are the first generation of social entrepreneurs in our country and we are making our mark as pioneers of this business, facing and overcoming problems. But we believe in success and move forward!
I am 34 years old. I have two children. As a child, I dreamed of being a ballerina, diplomat, investigator, journalist. Many more. But I never wanted to do business. And I honestly admit, life forced me to do this.
Eight years ago, when my eldest son was born, I, as a young mother, was faced with a whole set of problems: lack of milk, lack of live information about massage therapists, ENT doctors, nannies.
After the first weeks of hysterics. I realized that being a mother is a job, and a child is a “project”. And I, as a manager, do not have enough knowledge and experience to implement this “project”. I can quickly get both by learning from experienced mothers in my city. I began to purposefully look for them. Found it. Several months passed, I myself became an experienced mother and began to share my experience. From this communication, our portal for parents mamcompany.ru grew. Where 10,000 mothers, fathers, and grandmothers from all over the Tula region and Moscow now communicate.
After the first difficulties were resolved, I, as an active person, wanted to go out into people. Together with the child. 8 years ago, not a single Tula cafe had chairs for children, and sometimes we were simply not allowed there. Having been pushed around. We simply began to do events that were interesting to us, to do them in such a way that, first of all, our own children would feel comfortable and interested in them.
So in 2009, we held the first “MomParade” with a procession of dressed up strollers, in which almost 30 mothers and children took part, and after 5 years, 50,000 people took part in the “MomParade” in Tula. It was “MomParade 2014” that took second place in the all-Russian StartUP award “Best outdoor family holiday”
Then other family events were born: a festival for expectant parents, slider championships, New Year trees for kids, and a Garage sale charity fair.
Все наши мероприятия объединяет одно – мы делаем их такими, чтобы было нескучно родителям и интересно детям.
Organizing citywide holidays is a beautiful, but expensive story. It is not always possible to receive grant funds for their implementation. That’s why we know how and attract partners. I am proud that we have truly learned to do socially significant projects by combining administrative resources and the capabilities of our business partners. This makes it possible to make high-class holidays convenient for residents, without straining the city and regional budget too much. Many large brands operating in the field of baby food and children's products took part in our events. It's a shame that we rarely find support from local large manufacturers.
When the MomCompany community began to grow, a family center appeared - this is our place of strength. Here we prepare expectant mothers and fathers for childbirth and the birth of a child, helping children from 8 months to 7 years develop their strengths and talents. Now the family center is our base, home, headquarters, where we are preparing new projects.
There is one more area of our activity, which I personally would like to say, but “non-profit” - this is providing support to nursing mothers. Our Breastfeeding Support Center is 80% funded by a municipal grant. Every year we counsel about 1,500 mothers. And if you look at the statistics. The number of breastfeeding women in the Tula region is growing every year. I see this as our small contribution.
If you take each area of our work, it is not unique. Many cities have a breastfeeding support center; almost everywhere there are local sites that unite moms; in every city there will be more than a dozen or hundreds of children's centers and schools for preparation for childbirth; If you look at the poster of any city, you can easily find family holidays and festivals for every taste.
I know thousands of stories like mine in our country. There are similar projects that are like sisters to our “MamCompany” in Kostroma, Tyumen, and Nizhny Novgorod. But there are cities where they are not. Therefore, we decided that in 2017 we will begin to hold our events in the cities of the Central Federal District.
The uniqueness of “MamCompany” is in the synergistic effect, in the combination of all these areas. This multidirectionality is not easy. Maintaining equal focus on all areas is difficult. I don’t consider or feel like an entrepreneur in a “pure” form, because we work at the intersection of “providing assistance and providing a service.” Am I confident that our business strategy is 100% successful? No. Do I want to do this - yes. Because we are the first generation of social entrepreneurs in our country and we are making our mark as pioneers of this business, facing and overcoming problems. But we believe in success and move forward!
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Committee for the Development of Women's Entrepreneurship "SUPPORTS OF RUSSIA" implements a comprehensive program to support women's entrepreneurial initiatives.
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