In the Press - A belter of an idea

Many great inventions are born out of necessity, such as this mum's need to make her work suits expand.

Who: Christine Kininmonth, 43, Sydney.

Was: Journalist and newsreader.

Now: Mother of four, inventor of the BellyBelt and director of Fertile Mind.

Christine was a Channel 7 newsreader about to go on maternity leave to have her first baby when she was made redundant. This gave her the chance to develop a nifty idea that is now an iconic product for pregnant women.

What' the big idea?

The BellyBelt enables regular pants and skirts to be turned into maternity wear.

When did it strike?

"I wanted to wear my newsreading suits to work, because there wasn't much around then, in terms of suits for pregnant women. I just had to make it happen, so I did. I went to a home sewer with my badly made prototype and set up a bit of a better one. So many people were coming up to me saying, my goodness, where'd you get that great suit? I thought, I've got to put this in a box and sell it."

Starting out

At first, I thought I'd just sell it at the markets, but then I read an article about women thinking too small when it come to business. I thought, I'm not going to do that. So I went to the best packaging place in Sydney and promptly, with my $12,000 box bill, ran out of money. I decided to sell my car. Two people rang up about it, and one of them became my business partner. He still is.

Spreading the word

I had my baby, caroline, at the end of 1996.I was also working part-time for Sky News. We started selling in 1998, did a baby expo and Target became our first customer. David Jones came on board early, too. But it was all still part-time. I used to take boxes into David Jones on my daughter's lap in the pram.

And now?

We are in our 11th year and have eight staff. We manufacture and license products, distribute products, and have a website, www.fertilemind.com.au. We started selling overseas in 2002 and now BellyBelt is everywhere from Greenland to Latvia to Kuwait. It's a great recession product: turn your existing clothes into maternity wear.

How do the kids fit in?

I work part-time, three days a week.When the girls were small I had a mix of all sorts of care, including aupairs and nannies. At one stage it was very chaotic. Now, I have one daughter in secondary school, two in primary school and one in preschool.

The best bits

Being able to show my mother and father something on a shelf in a shop. And the wonderful people I work with.

The hardest part

Getting over people tampering with the products and packaging in stores.

Lessons learnt:

1) Be honest with yourself about the potential size of the market.

2) Don't give away the early years of your kids lives for the sake of putting a product on the market.

3) Give it a go! I am a classic example of someone who really had no idea of what I was doing, so anything is possible.