Shalom Lloyd created a creche for her women workers. Georgia Metcalfe used an insensitive sexist insult as a way to force her onwards.

Pauline Paterson was assumed that she was the face of her business, and not the brains behind, but she still made a fortune. Lottie Whyte, a West London-based Harlequins rugby team member, began to transform the sports recovery industry.

This year, the Mail’s award for female entrepreneurs who start a business while their children are under 12 — the Aphrodite, part of the annual NatWest Everywoman Awards — is all about women doing it for themselves.

Despite a constant pandemic and global supply-chain challenges, they have managed to steer their companies towards extraordinary success despite the obstacles.

Women who've made the Aphrodite awards shortlist share their business stories - including Lottie Whyte (pictured), founder of MyoMaster

Women who’ve made the Aphrodite awards shortlist share their business stories – including Lottie Whyte (pictured), founder of MyoMaster

Even today, investors and funders often dismiss women as less capable and ambitious than men. This is especially true for mothers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Numerous studies have shown that female-led businesses are more profitable than those owned by men. This is true for both profit and economic value. If women were given the money to start and scale up businesses at the same rate as men, it would add £250 billion to UK Treasury coffers.

So let’s change attitudes by celebrating the women who are already doing it. These five women have been extraordinary leaders and innovators, often against all odds.

Here’s our Aphrodite shortlist, which includes three finalists and two highly commended. . .

MAD MASSAGEGUN GAVE ME A IDEA

Lottie Whyte (32), is the founder of MyoMaster, a sports recovery company. She is married 32-year-old rugby player Joe Gray and lives in Walton-on-Thames together with their son Otis, 2.

Lottie says it all started in 2018, when Joe, a professional rugby player was supposed to fit a new kitchen in her home. Instead of building cabinets, he attached the leg of a wooden stool to the end of a drill. This created a powerful massage gun.

‘He had Achilles tendinitis and was trying to come up with something to treat it,’ says Lottie. ‘This just seemed to work really well. Of course, when he then took it into the Harlequins changing room, the boys died with laughter.’

Lottie Whyte, 32, (pictured), who lives in Walton-on-Thames, founded sports recovery venture MyoMaster after her husband created a powerful massage gun to treat Achilles tendinitis

Lottie Whyte, 32, (pictured), who lives in Walton-on-Thames, founded sports recovery venture MyoMaster after her husband created a powerful massage gun to treat Achilles tendinitis

Until they tried it, too — and then wanted one of their own. Cash began to change hands for Joe’s madly customised yellow B&Q drills, until Lottie realised he’d hit on a potentially huge market in products to aid post-workout recovery.

‘It’s the next big thing,’ she says. ‘People used to spend almost no time on helping their bodies recover after exercise. That’s changing.’

Lottie’s MyoPro massage gun — a bespoke, engineered version of Joe’s stool leg — took six months to develop before launching in 2019 and now sits in a range of MyoMaster recovery products, including compression systems to flush out lactic acid and electrical stimulation gadgets to build muscle and reduce pain.

Lottie and her husband built the business using their own resources. One year later, Lottie began to seek additional funding. Otis was sometimes taken with Lottie.

‘Once, I walked in to make a pitch with him under my arm. I said to this room full of men, look, my childcare has fallen through and there’s no way round this, we’re going to have to crack on anyway.’

MyoMaster raised £50,000 on Lottie’s (pictured) first funding round and is now on track to turn over £1 million this year

MyoMaster raised £50,000 on Lottie’s (pictured) first funding round and is now on track to turn over £1 million this year 

It takes ‘balls of steel’ to do that, she says, especially if you are a woman of colour. Extend Ventures conducted a study of UK venture capital funding over ten years and found that only 0.02 percent went to women of color.

We have more chance of winning the lottery on a Saturday night than getting VC funding,’ says Lottie.

‘Fundraising is hard whoever you are, but we don’t necessarily have access to the same networks or support systems as others.

‘Opportunities are improving all the time, however.’

Indeed, MyoMaster raised £50,000 on Lottie’s first funding round. It is on track to turn over £1 million this year. Her advice to other women is to ‘be brave and move fast’.

SURVIVING SEXISM TO MAKE MILLIONS

Pauline Paterson, 43 (founder of Dr Pawpaw) lives in Bromley, South London with Johnny, 39 and their children Jasmine (10 and Jackson (7).

Pauline Paterson, 43, (pictured), who lives in Bromley, was pregnant with her second child when she approached her bank for a modest overdraft to help the start-up of Dr Pawpaw

Pauline Paterson, 43, (pictured), who lives in Bromley, was pregnant with her second child when she approached her bank for a modest overdraft to help the start-up of Dr Pawpaw

Pauline, a hairdresser by profession, approached her bank to request a modest overdraft for the start-up her vegan, cruelty-free skincare brand, Dr Pawpaw.

‘I was working on the project for two years before it launched [in 2013] and I didn’t take a wage from it in all that time. I wasn’t even asking for a loan, just an overdraft, but still the answer was no.’

I’d ask if I could help and they’d say, we’ll wait to speak to the boss . And I’d say, well, I am the boss! – PAULINE PATERSON 

Later, at a trade fair, time and again Pauline was dismissed as simply the ‘face’ of the business rather than its owner and the brains behind it.

‘People would approach my stand and I’d ask if I could help them. They’d say no, thanks, we’ll wait to speak to the boss. And I’d say, well, I am the boss.’

Pauline was also honing skills that no one else believed she had. ‘I taught myself how to file all our intellectual property paperwork by reading about it on my laptop while I was breastfeeding Jackson,’ she says. ‘That alone saved the company £30,000 in fees.

‘I don’t have a business degree — I worked my way up in hairdressing from a salon to a training post at Wella’s London academy. But I’m a firm believer that everything, from researching ingredients to pitching to buyers, can be learned.’

Pauline's (pictured) brand has 36 products and a celebrity following including Victoria Beckham, Emma Watson and Elle Macpherson

Pauline’s (pictured) brand has 36 products and a celebrity following including Victoria Beckham, Emma Watson and Elle Macpherson

With two children under five and no formal childcare, she worked when they slept, focusing at first on a single product — Dr Pawpaw’s original multi-purpose, papaya-based balm for lips, hair and skin — then on expanding the range.

Today there are 36 products, from lip masks to hand creams, stocked in Boots, Superdrug, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, with a celebrity following including Victoria Beckham, Emma Watson and Elle Macpherson.

In the U.S., Pauline’s colourful little tubes are found on the shelves of huge cosmetics chain Ulta Beauty, with 1,200 outlets. She is available in more than 30 countries and plans to launch in Scandinavia next year.

From an initial investment of £20,000 mustered from her savings and those of two friends — and no overdraft facility — Pauline is on course to turn over £5.5 million this year. You’d hope her bank manager has learned a lesson.

FROM A OILY BED TO ORDER FROM ROYALS

Georgia Metcalfe (46), is the founder and CEO of The French Bedroom Company (frenchbedroomcompany.co.uk). She lives in West Sussex, with Ben, 51, and their children Layla (15, and Jacobi (7).

Georgia Metcalfe, 46, (pictured) who lives in West Sussex, founded The French Bedroom Company in 2006 with just £500 and an antique bed in French damask

Georgia Metcalfe, 46, (pictured) who lives in West Sussex, founded The French Bedroom Company in 2006 with just £500 and an antique bed in French damask

Georgia would rather spend her time looking for inspiration in French antiques markets than pondering the details of global supply chains. The past six months have been difficult for entrepreneurs like Georgia who rely heavily on imported stock.

‘Containers are held up at every stage of their journey and fees to keep them at ports can run into thousands of pounds. A container that might have cost £1,000 to get from China is now costing £20,000.’

In other ways, however, the pandemic has transformed her business. Online shopping and DIY interior design have boomed with people staying at home, especially among the older generation.

Georgia was well-positioned to capitalize on her French-inspired, romantic beds, linens and lighting, as well as her established website. In 2020, traffic rose by almost a third and her profits more than doubled to £1.2 million.

Georgia loves a challenge. She founded The French Bedroom Company in 2006 with just £500 and an antique bed in French damask that, on closer inspection, was covered in equally antique hair oil.

Georgia (pictured), who has had several celebrity customers, said things were hand-to-mouth in the early days of her business

Georgia (pictured), who said that she had many celebrity clients in the early days her business. 

‘People loved the designs — the cabriole legs, floral motifs and rococo swirls — but they didn’t want, well, the rest of it. So we started to make new beds inspired by the best bits.’

Launch coincided with the birth of baby Layla — and when husband Ben decided to join the company too, money was tighter than ever.

‘It was hand-to-mouth back then. We used our London flat as a showroom and, for a few bottles of wine, friends helped build the website and take pictures for the catalogue.’

Today, she counts many celebrities and members of Royal Family among her clients.

Setbacks make you ‘hungrier’, she maintains. When a sexist supplier called her a ‘silly little girl’ for asking for a bed with bespoke measurements, she used her anger to ‘make changes [to the business] I’d perhaps not have made otherwise.’

MY PLAN NEEDED A KING’S BACKING

Shalom Lloyd, 48, founded Naturally Tribal Skincare (naturallytribalskincare.com). She lives in Milton Keynes with husband David, 59, and has three children of her own — twins Joshua and Amara, seven, and 17-year-old Isaac — and two stepchildren, aged 26 and 32.

Shalom Lloyd, 48,  (pictured), who lives in Milton Keynes, started a factory in Nigeria and began importing pure shea butter after her son was Joshua was born with eczema

Shalom Lloyd, 48,  (pictured), who lives in Milton Keynes, started a factory in Nigeria and began importing pure shea butter after her son was Joshua was born with eczema 

Shalom was 41 when her life changed. After four rounds of IVF, she had twins Joshua and Amara — taking her brood to five, including two stepchildren — and, a year later, in 2016, she launched her business.

It was a negotiation with a king, not with bank managers and suppliers.

Joshua, her son, was born with painful, cracked eczema. He was eventually prescribed steroids.

But Shalom, a pharmacist by training, didn’t want to use them for long.

Her own childhood was in Nigeria, where the women swore by a very pure shea butter for their children’s skin. Shalom sourced some from her old home town — and Joshua started to recover his baby-soft skin.

She had an idea when the African shea ran out: she would open her own factory in Nigeria and import it. But first she had to ‘get support’ from the king and community of Essan, a rural region in the north of the country.

‘I’m a proud British Nigerian and I respect the culture. But it’s a man’s world and they are not used to women running things,’ she says.

Shalom (pictured) now has an 11-strong product range using shea butter as a base, which is stocked in Harrods, TK Maxx and online

Shalom (pictured) now has an 11-strong product range using shea butter as a base, which is stocked in Harrods, TK Maxx and online

‘My idea was to create training and infrastructure for women workers, to build a creche alongside the factory and give them the power to earn their own regular income.

In the end, His Royal Highness, the king, got right behind it and gave us the land to build on.’

Shalom remortgaged the family home in Milton Keynes to do it — and now has 22 women working for her, with plans to hire 20 more.

It has been a lifeline to many Essan residents. ‘One of my girls is just 19 and a mother of four. With the money she earned working for us, she was able to put a new roof on her house.’

Today, Shalom offers an 11-strong product line that uses shea butter as a base. It is available in Harrods and TK Maxx, as well online. Since 2019, the turnover has more than doubled.

I STARTED THE BUSINESS… MY SON PASSED AWAY.

Sarah Thomas, 36, is founder and CEO of Clockface Beauty (clockfacebeauty.com). She lives with Nick, her 58-year-old husband, and their two sons Alfie (five-year-old) and Henry (three-year-old).

Sarah Thomas, 36, (pictured), who lives in North Yorkshire, partnered with her mum to launch Clockface Beauty’s Signature Facial Serum for Women

Sarah Thomas, 36, (pictured), who lives in North Yorkshire, partnered with her mum to launch Clockface Beauty’s Signature Facial Serum for Women 

Sarah’s skin got inflamed while she was pregnant with Henry. Karen, a biomedical scientist, was making her own serum for hormonal problems associated with menopause. She used ingredients such as grapeseed oil, grapefruit oil, and bergamot. It worked quickly for Sarah when she tried it.

‘It cleared my skin really quickly and I thought, well, everybody needs to know about this.’

That product — Clockface Beauty’s Signature Facial Serum for Women, which launched in 2018 — has since won a clutch of beauty industry awards and is now stocked in Harvey Nichols and House of Fraser nationwide. Sarah, who lives near York, has created 16 additional products, including a cleanser for men and a beard oil.

It’s an achievement all the more impressive given the serious illness of her son Henry, who was in and out of hospital just as she launched the business.

‘We nearly lost him three times,’ she says. ‘Once I watched him turn blue and had to run to the village hall to get the defibrillator.’

Sarah 's (pictured) serum is now stocked in Harvey Nichols and House of Fraser nationwide

Harvey Nichols, House of Fraser and other stores nationwide now stock Sarah’s (pictured).

Henry has a compromised immune response, and is deficient in two blood proteins that protect against respiratory disease. ‘Every time he got a chest infection, it turned into pneumonia. None of his immunisations stuck, so he was really vulnerable.’

Henry was clearly at risk from Covid and his consultant advised Sarah that the entire family should be kept in strict isolation. This meant that Clockface Beauty was shut down for three months.

Henry became stronger in isolation and was able to get out of lockdown with the rest the world with new medication. Today, he is at nursery — and Clockface, too, goes from strength to strength. ‘We relaunched in the summer and, on that day, had the highest sales we’ve ever had. People were waiting to buy their product, which felt like a huge endorsement.’