Kids Eye Gear is a small family business, so we were pretty thrilled to recently be nominated - and then selected as a FINALIST in the AusMumpreneur Awards in the Regional Business category. As an added bonus, Kids Eye Gear is also in two People's Choice Awards - Ecommerce and Making a Difference (Business). 

The AusMumpreneur Awards, presented by The Women’s Business School, celebrate and recognise Australian mums in business achieving outstanding success in areas such as business excellence, product development, customer service and digital innovation. The awards are designed to recognise the growing number of women who successfully balance motherhood and business in a way that suits their life and family.

Nicola Rivett is the Founder and CEO of Kids Eye Gear, an Australian business that helps parents of young children with vision issues to get the best vision outcomes for their kids. The company provides fun optical products, valuable information, and personal support through an online store and blog.

In 2011, Nicola’s six-month-old son was diagnosed with a rare eye condition that resulted in surgery, a contact lens and the most challenging of all – patching one of his eyes for hours and hours every day.

“The frustrations of patching a baby, and then toddler, were immense. Accessibility to this vital, but simple, medical device was limited in Australia and large multinationals that did distribute them made sure the pricing for Australian families hurt the hip pocket. I just knew there had to be a better way,” explained Ms Rivett.

“I wanted to help out the few other families I knew that were also struggling with patching, so the business started when one large carton of brightly coloured eye patches arrived on my doorstep.”

“That carton lasted three weeks, so I knew what I had created was urgently needed in this country – and so Kids Eye Gear was born.”

Ms Rivett is delighted to be named as a finalist and is proud of her achievements, particularly reaching the milestone of helping 10,000 Australian families with their child’s vision issues.

There are many benefits to balancing business and motherhood as Ms Rivett explains.

“I love that I am able to help other Australian families that are travelling a similar path to my own family’s. Being able to support kids’ vision is extremely satisfying for me and supports the feeling that I’m making a real and valuable contribution to the Australian community,” she said.

“At 13 and 11 years of age, my children have been involved with the business in one way or another from the start. Whether they’ve acted as models, helped stuff promo bags for trade shows, or given feedback on new products being developed, I’m thrilled that they have learnt so much at a young age about what goes in to creating a successful family business. I hope that this instils in them a positive work ethic and contributes to their own future growth as young adults and in their chosen careers.

The winners of the 2021 AusMumpreneur Awards were announced at an online event in September. Unfortunately, Nicola was not a winner on this occasion but was thrilled to be a Finalist. 

For more information on the AusMumpreneur Awards visit: www.ausmumpreneur.com