The controversial word – mumpreneur
Reflecting on the word Mumpreneur, I was reminded of my formative years, growing up in Eastern Nigeria. Observing all the mothers around me while growing up taught me a thing or two about multi-tasking and entrepreneurship. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, there were not many women who owned or were made CEO’s of corporate organizations. Most women were civil servants, teachers or nurses. I also recall a couple of aunties that had thriving farming businesses in their homes. These were enterprising mothers and businesswomen, early pioneers of the silent revolution, taking place in the home, who understood the language of survival and ambition.
This silent revolution, riding on the back of the need to create a more sustainable lifestyle in the home, emboldened women to expand the boundaries of their ambition beyond the traditional role of the mother and to redefine the assumption that the role of the woman is in the home as a full time mother and wife and if she must work, to occupy soft positions in the civil service. As roles and boundaries shifted, so did the pressures of maintaining the traditional fabrics of the home. By putting in longer hours and travel time into running successful businesses and departments, women became financial co-contributors in the home. As a result of this shift, mothers and children stayed longer at work and in school or were left in the care of nannies at home and most often, conjugal relationships became strained.
Entrepreneurship thus became the ethos for work-life balance and the beginning of a new breed of female entrepreneurs. Women, especially mothers, started leaving the workplace in droves by the mid 90’s to set up businesses. This allowed them to have flexible work schedules and to stay closer to the home not only as homemakers but also as job creating entrepreneurs.
Observing these enterprising mothers inspired my path as a child of 12 toward entrepreneurship. These women were businesswomen, mothers, career women, scholars, care givers and wives. In the early 80’s and 90’s, they were just regular women struggling to make ends meet, working hard to support their husbands in the home while also building careers and businesses. Fast forward to 2015, women like those mothers I grew up observing have gone from regular women to being today identified, branded and addressed by society by the term “Mumpreneurs.”
Mumpreneur (Mother + Entrepreneur), momager (Mother + Manager) or mummylancer (Mother + Freelancer) are terms used today to describe women who are both fulltime mothers and businesswomen. It is not known who first used the terms in in relation to women. What is mostly known is that the term mumpreneur is being used to identify and highlight women who have whole-heartedly embraced combining motherhood with running successful full time businesses. As positively heroic as this might sound, there is a contrary school of thought that sees this term, not as a celebration and recognition of female entrepreneurs, but as a derogatory and sometimes sexist term. It is surprising to note that men do not exclusively express this sentiment; women after whom it was coined also echo this sentiment.
This word piqued my curiosity after I stumbled on an article published in The Telegraph UK, which quotes freelance Journalist Anne Marie Scanlon as totally averse to being referred to as a mumpreneur or mummylancer. To coin the word “mummylancer,” Mummy was taken from Anne Scanlon’s role as a mother while Lancer was from her profession as a freelance journalist. Her reaction highlighted the fact that not many people, men and women alike, appreciate being associated with the term.
To find out if this word has caught on in Nigeria and if today’s female entrepreneurs reject or embrace it, I carried out an online survey of both men and women on Twitter and Blackberry (BBM). [Below are some selected responses I received.
1) Mrs. Amara Agbim, the founder of the Nanny Academy: She recounted her reaction when the word “Mumpreneur or Mompreneur” came up in a conversation. This was what she said – “A brand consultant asked me what I did for a living and I said, ‘I am a Mumpreneur’. He looked at me queerly and then told me that I don’t sound serious! My goodness! I glossed over it out of shock and went researching. From that day on, I made up my mind never to address myself that way again!”
2) A male Senior Executive Investment Banker said: “I have never heard the term before. It is seemingly derogatory. I would guess that the vast majority of women globally who are above 30 years of age, are mothers. If the term was coined by women, it does working mothers a disservice; if coined by men, a further example of chauvinism that unfortunately permeates our society is highly at play here.”
3) Mr. Chukwuemeka Chukwuezi – “I don’t think anyone should label him or herself as a dad or mumpreneur. If you’re an entrepreneur, you are an entrepreneur; plain and simple. Keep family out of it! That way you put yourself on a level playing ground with all other business men and women. Everyone is capable. Labels like Mumpreneur are quite patronizing and I’m sure that is not how most women would want to be addressed.”
4) Mrs. Aisha Augie-Kuta – an award winning female photographer: “I like it! But that’s like saying the mummy is using her kids to make money! Lol!”
5) Arch. Mrs. Okwukwe Onuzo-Iwuchukwu – CEO of Empire Heritage and the Founder of Meana Oils and Foods: “I don’t think there is anything wrong with being referred to as a Mumpreneur. The word simply captures the unique struggles and triumphs of women in balancing life and work.”
6) Pastor Tokunbo Johnson – Capstone Church: Mumpreneur? Never heard of it. Is this a new word finding its way into the lexicon? If so, then we can justify having Boypreneur, Dadpreneur, Unmarriedpreneur, etc. Why not just Entrepreneur? Keep it simple.
Muna Onuzo