But the truth is, not long after joining Medela UK in 2006, it was never a question I asked myself. Which is not to say I've always been an expert in the field: before I was first approached by Medela, I knew as much about breast pumps as I did about bicycle pumps or fuel pumps, which is to say not much!

I do, however, have a background in healthcare. I'm a research chemist by background and before joining Medela I worked in sales and marketing for a number of multinational pharmaceutical companies. Wherever I've been, I have always had a strong belief and passion in the products and good customer service. It's about appreciating the context in which we market our products - and breastfeeding is obviously an important and emotive issue.

Principles and passion

In order to really understand our customers, I've had to immerse myself in the world of breastfeeding. I've had some personal experience in this area, as both of my two daughters were breastfed, but joining Medela ensured that I rapidly got the broadest insight possible. Medela is completely unique in its outlook and approach - it is genuinely dedicated to breastfeeding and it is the only company in the sector which bases its technologies on serious research conducted by the world's most recognised lactation experts. This passion and dedication quickly rubbed off on me.

Research into such critical areas as breast anatomy and breastmilk composition has informed innovations in our products, such as the unique 2-Phase Expression, the only breastpump technology that mimics a baby's nursing rhythm. Clearly I don't use the products myself, but it is this research-led approach which ensures I am one hundred percent confident in our pumps - and the outstanding feedback we get from mums justifies this confidence. Also, given we are the number one choice of healthcare professionals and facilities worldwide speaks volumes.

What attracted me to working with Medela was the feel of the company. Although it's an international business now with operations across six continents, it's still very much run in accordance with the values of its founder Olle Larrson. Since I arrived in the job in 2006, I'm pleased to say the emphasis has very much been on evolution rather than revolution: all I have to do is rely on the principles of the company and then execute them.

The emphasis is on the customer and the product at Medela, but also on the employee. The company is a great investor in people, and while we have nearly doubled our UK staff to 22 from 12 since I joined, I can count on one hand the number of people that have left, which hopefully suggests we're doing something right.

Dynamic industry

And now to the women. It's true that men are in the minority at Medela, but this is not by design, it is just that the best qualified and most suitable people we interview have to this day tended mainly to be women. It's ironic that one of our competitors tends to employ mainly men, and I'm sure this is very much by chance too: the nursery industry is as dynamic and target-oriented as any that I have worked in and there is nothing soft about it. You wouldn't, for example, notice any difference between a woman working in the nursery industry and a male working in pharmaceuticals and in many cases, the gender of our Account Managers or the rapport they have with the client is irrelevant, as the people they deal with are so ambitious that they have moved on before they got the chance to build a relationship with them.

Because of all these reasons, I really don't feel at any disadvantage at all being a man in this business. People are people, whether they are men, women, grandmothers or daughters. 

Business outlook

So far, we're not experiencing a downturn and the business in the UK and elsewhere appears to be weathering the storm. Whether the recession is affecting our growth rates is less clear, but we're growing our business healthily and I hope this will continue to be the case. Because our products are premium products, our customers tend to do a lot of research before they actually make the purchase, which helps us of course, as Medela's breast pumps are recognised as the most advanced on the market and are award winners to boot.

The message on breastfeeding is slowly getting out, and people are still determined to continue with sports, social or professional life and these longer term trends I believe are a good indicator that our business should stay robust in the years to come. We are also still the number one preferred choice of hospitals and healthcare professionals, which is so important not just because it is a valuable source of business to us but also because it introduces lots of young mothers to our technology. And referrals from healthcare or elsewhere still represent the most important source of new custom for us, much more than advertising.

Product pipeline

We're still in the launch phase of our latest breast pump, the Medela Freestyle, and this has been going really well as we've sold much more than we had originally thought we would. It's a departure from our other pumps as it has a fairly revolutionary design that enables mothers to express ‘hands free', so it's encouraging to see that mums seem to like our innovations.

After we get the freestyle established we'll certainly look to introduce other new products. We're constantly investing in new ways to make our technology smaller, more portable and more powerful, basically meeting our mission to make hospital-grade equipment available to every mum, and this, as well as how we can improve quality of life for breast-feeding mothers, will be what drives our product development going forwards.

Other than pumps, we are also developing a new range of accessories. It makes sense that if a mum buys one of our pumps, she will also want nipple shields, bottles and other equipment to go with it and this is a gap in our portfolio we will very shortly fill.

The other challenge for us at the moment is getting more training on breastfeeding and our products into the shops. Shop workers do really appreciate the training we give them: for example, nipple size is a really important issue for mothers and sales staff in shops often want to be able to help their customer but often they lack the basic knowledge. We're already doing this in some of the bigger stores and selection of baby cafes and we intend to do more of this.

What government can do

The nursery industry does all it can to help young mothers bring up their babies but when it comes to the welfare of mothers that breastfeed, I think there is room for social policy to step in. You only have to pick up a newspaper these days - even some of the so-called quality ones - to see what kind of pressure mothers are under to return to their pre-natal state. Call it the sexualisation of the breast or whatever. The bottom line is the UK drop-off rate for breast feeding mothers would not be anywhere near as high as it is if mothers had more information at their disposal: dads often think, for example, that they're helping out by taking over the evening feed but so often they are not even aware that, with a breast pump, this could be done using the mothers own milk. We need more basic education on this and it really needs to start at school level.

Tel: 0870 950 5994

Web: www.medela.co.uk

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