In the Press - Tying up award

Necessity the mother of Christine's invention.

by Sue Hoban

Newsreader Christine Kininmonth has had to rethink her identity since being selected among impressive company as one of the 50 women inducted this year into the Businesswoman's Hall of Fame.

Because of it she is almost ready to think of herself as a businesswomen - and a successful one at that.

"It's made me realise that my little idea is actually bigger than that," she said. The little idea, as Christine describes the invention on which her business was founded, is called the BellyBelt.

Comprising an elasticised detachable maternity panel with a belt that can be attached easily to pants and skirts, it is a nifty way to convert normal clothing into maternity wear, with a shirt or jacket then worn over the top.

It was actually a by-product of her own pregnancy three years ago. "I designed it for myself because I was a newsreader at Channel 7 at the time and I had all these gorgeous suits. I looked at the quality of the maternity wear available and I decided I wasn't going to spend money on it so I thought, "I'll just whip up something." I don't sew at all so I hand sewed this pathetic little example of a prototype and everyone said what great maternity wear."

But coming up with the idea was of course the easy part, "I cannot tell you the journeys I went through. It was basically sitting down with the Yellow Pages and writing out hundreds of numbers and following hundreds of dead-ends," she said.

But she has put all that behind her now with production standing at about 3000 units per month. There have also been approaches from the US and United Kingdom.

Christine is on of three northern beaches businesswomen inducted into the Businesswoman's Hall of Fame this year. Her achievements, along with those of Cindy Luken, founder of Luken and May and Diana Ruall, managing director of Apple Australia, and 47 others are being showcased at a special exhibition organised by the Australian Businesswoman's Network at Chifley Plaza until March 25 as part of their business histories and each women's top five strategies for success.

Manly Daily 6/3/2000