Lilian Wanjiku Lea Efetha, mostly known as Lia Efetha, is on a mission to fight the Flat Head Syndrome in East Africa. I met the 33 years old CEO and Founder of Toto Wraps at her shop at Equatorial Business Centre on Wood Avenue in Kilimani area, Nairobi. The tiny store is big enough to hold a counter, three plastic chairs and enough shelves to display different kinds of wraps, slings and rucksacks; in plain colours, with safari themes or kikoy details.
“I do most of the work at home, at night after my kids have gone to sleep. This shop is just a stock,” says Lea as she offers me a seat.
The Gift That Triggered It All
Lia is married to Kennedy Efetha and they have three children: a 17 years old daughter who’s in Egerton University and two boys aged eight and four. She also considers herself a mother of a two and half-year old little girl she is taking care of. After giving birth to her third baby, Lia suffered from back complications and she resigned from her job. She would lie down on a mattress most of the time and browse on her laptop as she could hardly sleep on the bed or sit due to sharp back pains. One day, she came across a post on Facebook where someone was giving away a baby car seat for free. Lia responded promptly to the post as she thought that such an item would help her and her husband carry the baby around easily. As she chatted with her new found Facebook friend, Lia disclosed her predicament of not being able to carry the baby around due to back pain. When the lady delivered the car seat, she threw in a baby carrier.
Initially Lia had doubts about how she could carry the baby around in the sling when going to the clinic, using public transport, and holding an umbrella and a bag at the same time. She however decided to give it a try. At the clinic she would become the centre of attention with mothers marvelling at her baby carrier. When Lia realised she could sit, browse, breastfeed and do other things for herself while carrying her baby, she started sourcing for second hand material similar to the one her sling was made of in Gikomba and Toy markets, and selling baby carriers online. That was in 2012.Toto Wraps was born.
Selling baby carriers wasn’t easy in the beginning, but “I love the journey I underwent as every single day is a learning process,” says Lia. Just like her, some people wouldn’t understand the concept and would dismiss the sling. They thought they could get a ring locally and some fabric and just make the wrap themselves. “However if I just give you a sling without explaining how to use it, you will never be able to,” she says. Toto Wraps provides manuals, booklets and youtube tutorial videos explaining the basic wrapping techniques.
Lia remembers the day she walked a long distance carrying her then seven month old baby, who was quite heavy. She was hopping to sell a wrap, but the potential client turned her down. On her way back Lia collapsed on the road. A Good Samaritan assisted her call her husband who sent a taxi to take her home. That day she realised that nothing comes easy.
Toto Wraps has three subsidiaries abroad: Toto Wraps Netherlands, Toto Wraps Australia (Mocha Mama) and Toto Wraps USA Arizona. The latter is run by Laketa Kemp, CEO and Founder of Tandem Trouble, a youtube channel dedicated to baby carriers for twins. Today Toto Wraps has plans to open other subsidiaries in Kigali and Kampala, their biggest markets. In Kenya plans are underway to expand to Kisumu. Lia is seeking collaborative partnerships with ventures that deal with motherhood as well. Her goal is to have Toto Wraps joints and Mother Care Centres in the whole region in five years. Those will be centres where mothers will be given information on flat head syndrome and the importance of baby wearing in preventing the condition. Furthermore, mothers will be taught the proper way of using baby wraps.
The Threat that is Flat Head Syndrome
Lia is particularly passionate about enlightening the modern woman on how to prevent the Flat Head Syndrome, mostly witnessed in urban centres. As opposed to the rural areas where an elderly person is always at hand to volunteer and massage your baby’s head for free, in urban settings mothers rely on their househelps who may not necessarily be conversant with the practice. The working modern woman leaves her house very early and returns home at night. She leaves the kids with the nanny. Some househelps don’t check on the baby often enough. As a result a baby is left sleeping in the same position for a long time. Some mothers who spend a lot of time browsing on their cell phones tend to leave their baby in a cradle or on a baby swing. All of that expose the infant to flat head syndrome. If you are such a mother Lia recommends that you get a baby carrier for your nanny and ask her to use it; or for yourself as it allows you to carry your little one and browse as long as you wish.
NCT 1st 1,000 Days New Parent Support website describes the flat head syndrome as “the name given to the condition when part of a baby’s head becomes flattened due to continued pressure on one spot. There are two types of flat head syndromes in babies. Plagiocephaly is a flattening on one side of a baby’s head. It’s the most common form and happens when a baby’s head develops a flat area due to continued pressure on one side of their head. Brachycephaly refers to the condition where a baby’s head is disproportionately wide compared to its depth. It can happen when babies lie for long periods on their backs. This causes the whole of the back of their head to flatten, resulting in a much wider and shorter head.” As preventive measures it’s recommended to avoid leaving the baby in the same position for too long, and to walk her in a sling or front carrier instead of a car seat.
Tradition Inspired Modern Baby Wearing
As an African modern woman, Lia decided to start selling baby wraps put into the concept of African nurturing, inspired by the fact that traditionally, Kenyan women know how to carry their babies around using ngoi, kikoy and khanga. She started off selling kikoy baby carriers and introduced stretchy wraps later. She is now offering the rucksacks to those who find the wraps too complicated to use.
The stretchy wrap around baby carrier is made of Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified interlocked knit cotton jersey. It’s the beginners’ wrap. The fabric is very malleable. It has a weight limit of 13kg.The kikoy baby carriers are Sunflag products coloured with safe dye, to protect babies from harmful chemicals, as they tend to chew on the fabric when being carried. The kikoy sling is sturdy and will hold the weight of a heavy baby without sagging. It can do front and back wrapping. The Toto Wraps rucksack is different from what is mass produced and imported. The mass produced rucksacks leave the baby’s legs dangling and don’t give ergonomic support. Besides they expose the mother to back pain. Toto Wraps rucksacks seek to avoid such problems. The rucksack can be used until the baby is four and half years.
Toto Wraps as a Fair Trade company has engaged three family groups of weavers to produce handwoven baby carriers. The weaving is done by hand using 100% cotton fine yarn sourced from Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya. All works are hand crafted from the spinning of the thread fibers to weaving the cloth and even finishing the details on each of the products. The yarn is dyed using local plants and herbs and some tried and true natural products that are safe, Azo Free, Eco Friendly and Oeko Tex approved, that Toto Wraps gets from Fine Spinners Ltd.
And The Business Grew
Facebook, the mobile phone and WhatsApp have been Lia’s most effective ways of marketing Toto Wraps. She also does a lot of events and expos where she makes most of her sales. Lia sometimes gets called by midwives to show mothers of premature babies how to carry their tiny little ones.
The biggest challenge for Lia is cost of production for the rucksack carriers and shipping cost for imported material. When she decided to start making kikoy slings and selling them, Lia borrowed Ksh.30,000 from her husband and had rings shipped to Kenya. She imported them because the local ones are too heavy, and they have lead and the weld. Lia also imports labels from the US as the cost of production is seven times cheaper than those made locally.
Lia never tires to explain the advantages of modern baby wearing to sceptical mothers. The baby wrap has the advantage of supporting the baby’s neck. It’s great for carrying the baby kangaroo style. Using the kikoy or khanga the traditional way for long at some point gives chest pains. This doesn’t happen with a baby wrap. Colic and refluxes are reduced when carrying the baby in a wrap. The sling is trendy, fancy and it’s easy to breastfeed in it. It is hands free as the mother can do a lot while carrying her baby. Tummy time is important; the mother bonds with her baby and can touch him as often as she wants. The baby develops speech faster thanks to the close contact. The mother gets toned muscles as she walks around with her baby. Most importantly, chances of the baby having a flat head are significantly reduced.
Toto Wraps team is made of a team leader, two models who started off working for Lia as nannies, weavers, seamstresses, artisans, overlock hands and printers. The freedom to be creative to her own label and to do anything at any time is what Lia loves most about running her own business. “More than money, the sweetest thing is when wherever you go or online people recognise you for the good thing that you do in society,” she says.
Having lost her mother in 2007 and her mother-in-law in 2011, Lia appreciates even more the importance of having a strong support system. People such as her husband Kennedy and her good friend Laketa, who tell her that she needs to push herself hard, keep her going. The biggest lesson Lia has learned is that for a small business, you‘ve got to do it yourself. You can’t delegate duties. You need to know where it pinches most so that the lessons learned help you move further. She has also learned that patience helps you stay in business.
Lia confesses that entrepreneurship has made her very disciplined in the way she manages money. Having people on payroll – some of whom solely rely on Toto Wraps – has taught her to be careful in her spending; to ensure that her employees are always paid on time. Running her own business also has boosted Lia’s confidence. She realised that she can achieve a lot more than she thought she was able to. Though she doesn’t have regrets, Lia acknowledges that she could have marketed Toto Wraps better when it started; especially that she had plenty of resources that she didn’t utilise adequately.
Lia advises entrepreneurs to stay dedicated and never give up. “When you are starting a business, it’s never about you or the profit you will make. Make sure you give it your all. Give it your whole heart and soul and mind. Later on the profits will flow without you knowing,” she concludes.
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