Dubai expat builds online marketplace to support young mums with small businesses

A British mother living in Dubai has introduced an online market aimed at supporting young mothers who are navigating the challenges of balancing career and parenthood.

Dubai-based MINT Market began in early November as a passion project for Sally Maddison. She launched the venture driven by her goal of empowering fellow young mothers to achieve a fulfilling career while staying actively involved in their children's lives.

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With Christmas just around the corner, shoppers are exploring this e-commerce platform dedicated to sustainable holiday shopping, featuring handcrafted jewellery, one-of-a-kind home décor, and stylish clothing, all created by small businesses and local artisans.

Empowering young mothers

Driven by the aspiration to work independently and on her own terms without being accountable to a boss, Maddison partnered with four other mothers to establish a platform designed to support a demographic frequently facing challenges with traditional employment structures.

“When I started doing my research after Covid-19 I realised there was a gap that revealed a pressing need for flexibility, and empowering work opportunities for parents," Maddison, a resident of The Sustainable city, told Khaleej Times.

“I want to be there for my children—to tuck them into bed, attend their sports days, and be fully present as a parent. At the same time, I aspire to have a flexible working lifestyle that allows me to balance my career with motherhood. However, I realised that such opportunities are rare unless you work as an entrepreneur, which naturally offers more flexibility," she said.

This highlighted a gap in the job market. “It also inspired me to focus on empowering women—though not exclusively, as we also have men in our network. With 91 per cent of our owners being women aged 35 to 44, we’re catering primarily to young mothers, providing them with opportunities to work, manage their own businesses, and still take care of their families,” she added.

The British expat shared that what began as a small café initiative to attract more visitors and provide a platform for local marketers to showcase their products, quickly evolved into a more structured venture, continuing to foster a close-knit community.

The website now boasts a database of 800 small businesses, adding 100 new brands every month, with more than 50 per cent of the products proudly made in the UAE.

Backing small, local businesses

During her research, Maddison discovered that, in line with a global trend, over 57 per cent of UAE consumers were increasingly seeking to support small, local businesses, particularly those offering sustainable and personalised products.

She said: “After events like a Ripe market or a Popup market, people would message me on Instagram, saying they loved the market and asking for details about the brands. I’d always have to connect them manually, like, ‘Oh, that’s Penelope’s brand, here’s her Instagram.’”

Maddison explained that most of the small brands didn’t have websites or marketing budgets. “I thought, why not create a marketplace to house all these amazing limited edition, high quality, bespoke products in one place? Instead of playing the middleman, I could just say, ‘Here’s the URL, go shop!’ That’s how the idea for the marketplace came up," she added.

"It’s for our local community—supporting small businesses, especially before Christmas and making it easy for people to shop locally. We also offer average prices ranging from Dh100 and going up to Dh1,000 but the average price of an item would probably be Dh250. So, it's affordable,” said the owner and founder of MINT Market.

Notably, the UAE's e-commerce market has grown by 300 per cent over the past five years as per the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and continues to expand, with online purchases accounting for 73 per cent of retail transactions in 2023 as per Global Media Insights.

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