Mandy Haberman

Mandy Nicola Haberman (born 1956) is an English inventor and entrepreneur. She is the director and founder of Haberman Products and is best known for inventing a range of innovative baby bottles such as The Haberman Feeder, The Anywayup Cup, and The Suckle Feeder.[1] She is also the non-executive director of the UK Intellectual Property Office Steering Board, founder, member, and freeman of the Guild of Entrepreneurs, and is the vice chair of the Intellectual Property Awareness Network.[1]

She started off as a graphic designer and became an entrepreneur following the birth of her third child, as she considers herself a ‘mother of invention’.[1] Haberman’s daughter was born in 1980 with Stickler syndrome, which refers to a group of disorders of connective tissue that can result in difficulty breathing.[2] She had the congenital abnormality that included a cleft palate. Despite having no experience with business or innovation, she decided to create a cup to simulate breastfeeding. This is when the Haberman Feeder came to be, a special bottle for infants with sucking difficulties. She originally went to companies, but none were interested, forcing her to commercialize the product by herself.[3] It was a big risk for Haberman, but she notes, “business involves risk. Sometimes you just have to be brave and go with your gut instinct.”[3] This risk paid off, as for 30 years, the Haberman Feeder has been recommended by medical professionals, and is widely used in hospitals throughout the world.

Her second invention, the Anywayup Cup, came to be ten years later after she observed a pain point in baby bottles first hand when a toddler spilled juice all over her friend's carpet.[1] It was the first sippy cup to seal between sips and her most successful invention to date. This invention is available on the commercial market, selling 10 million cups per year. The Anywayup Cup has received numerous awards,[4] [5] such as a Gold Medal at the Salon International des Inventions in Geneva, a Horner's Award for innovative use of plastics, the overall 3M award for innovation categories at the Design Effectiveness Awards in 2000, the Tommy Award for the Most Parent Friendly Innovative Product, and the Best Consumer product of the year 2000.[1] All of these accomplishments got her awarded as the Female Inventor of the Year 2000.[1]

In 2013 she launched her third product, The Suckle Feeder, which enables a baby to feed more actively.[1] This product was yet another success, being awarded the Prima Baby Gold Award, Right Start Best Baby Essentials, Made for Mums, Mother and Baby, and Junior Magazine Design awards.[1]

Throughout her career, Haberman has continuously fought for her intellectual property. After the Anywayup Cup’s launch, many similar products came to the market. Despite having to go against larger and much more powerful companies, she came out successful.[1]

All of her success has led to various appointments. Haberman was appointed in 2013 as the vice chair of the Intellectual Property Awareness Network.[1] In 2015 she was appointed by the UK Government as a non-executive director of the UK Intellectual Property Office Steering Board, where, as of March 2020, she is in her second term.[6] Haberman also became a founder, member, and freeman of the Guild of Entrepreneurs in the same year.[1]

As of 2020, Haberman is still in charge of Haberman Products and is constantly finding new problems and solving them. She has become a “campaigner for improvements in the patent system”[7] and believes that everyone should have a basic understanding of intellectual property. She says that by protecting her technologies, she “was able to secure [her] position in the market and reap the benefit from years of hard work.”[1]