"Our main priority since our inception was to build a trust platform where families were guaranteed safe, authentic and reliable products for their children and families. We set out to build a merchandising strategy based on these principles, sourcing the best products from official brands and authorized distributors only."
Most people waited for the Covid-19 pandemic to taper off before venturing into business. Nish D'Souza and wife Bela Gupta, however, did not wait for things to clear out and rolled out edamama while the world is still under strict quarantine.
Our journey in building edamama pre-dates 2020," granted Nish D'Souza, founder of edamama, an online shopping platform for mother and baby essential products.
"We had a strong thesis on the potential of e-commerce in the Philippines, which is among the fastest growing in the world today, projected to be valued at $22 Bn (binance coin) by 2025.
"The growth potential of e-commerce as a whole combined with the promise of the mom, baby and kid vertical in particular is what intrigued us as we become first-time parents ourselves.
"This country has among the highest fertility rates among major economies in Southeast Asia, with the total mother, baby and kid retail segment estimated to be worth $15 Bn."
Selling baby and mommy products online wasn't a hard decision for the D'Souza couple. "The main challenge for families as we saw it was trustworthiness of products at affordable price points," D'Souza explained.
"Our main priority since our inception was to build a trust platform where families were guaranteed safe, authentic and reliable products for their children and families. We set out to build a merchandising strategy based on these principles, sourcing the best products from official brands and authorized distributors only.
"We apply a strict process of vetting for safety and quality standards with the philosophy that 'if we wouldn't use it on our own children, we won't sell it on edamama."
This has paid off very well, as edamama has come to be known as a trusted platform for mothers in the Philippines, with industry leading average order values and basket sizes from customers across the country."
Since edamama started in December 2020, D'Souza and Gupta have offered the most salable, most popular and most needed products online.
"A large portion of our customer base today comprises first-time mothers preparing for motherhood and/or with children under the age of 2 at home," Gupta asserted.
"Our most saleble and needed items are essentials such as diapers, skin care and feeding, but we also see very healthy growth coming from other categories such as kids fashion, toys and learning, gear, and home and household products, too."
Launching edamama at the height of the pandemic brought different challenges and obstacles for the couple every day.
"We had to deal with a lot of uncertainty given the ever-changing quarantine rules in the Philippines with very tough lockdown restrictions," shared D'Souza.
"At a personal level, our family had made the decision to temporarily relocate to Australia during the pandemic. So we were launching edamama, raising our kids and managing a remote team all at once.
"We are grateful for that experience, however, because it instilled a deep sense of resilience, grit and, over time, comfort in managing through ambiguity — helpful qualities for startup life."
After close to three years, edamama today is the largest online-to-offline parenting platform in the Philippines, dedicated to making parenting easier for families by providing for them a wide range of products and services.
"edamama aims to simplify decision-making for parents and bring everyday joy in raising their families," said D'Souza.
"The brand name is inspired by Bela's upbringing in Japan. We wanted our brand to be inspired by Asian values while keeping the focus on the 'mama' as our target customer."
Brand ambassador
Actress Iza Calzado was introduced last May as the brand ambassador of edamama. She gave birth early this year to her firstborn, Deia Amihan.
"Three years into our journey, we felt the time was right to bring on a brand ambassador who truly embodies edamama's values in celebrating authentic parenting," Gupta said.
"Iza's charm, charisma and passion for parenting make her the ideal representative for edamama and someone we felt as a first-time mother would really resonate with our base.
"We are fortunate to have been friends with Iza and her husband, Ben [Wintle], that allowed for this partnership to come to its natural fruition, and we are delighted by the strong resonance she's had with our community."
To date, edamama has seen growth that D'Souza and Gupta didn't actually expect in such a short time.
"Honing in on this vertical is a very strong alignment for us between our passion towards parenting and the opportunities we see in the market," D'Souza said.
"The Philippine digital economy has seen a compound annual growth rate of over 100 percent in 2 years between 2019 and 2022. Edamama continues to be amongst the fastest-growing e-commerce markets globally.
"It's been exciting to be a part of that accelerated growth journey as pioneers of the local e-commerce industry in the country centered around Filipino customer needs and preferences."
Not surprisingly, in late 2022, edamama expanded offline through physical stores to build an omnichannel retail experience.
"This is an exciting realization of edamama's vision since inception to go where our customers are," D'Souza asserted.
"Our offline stores will represent a physical extension of our community, enabling us to better connect with our customers wherever they are and provide them with an even more personalized and simplified shopping experience.
"Looking ahead, we are also very excited about bringing in an increasing assortment of brands exclusive to edamama through our fast-growing local lifestyle brand 'bean' and by bringing in the leading global baby and kids brands to the Philippine market at unbeatable prices and quality."
From September 15 to 17, edamama will join "Family Expo 2023," the biggest shopping and learning events for families at the SMX Convention Center Function Room 5 at SMX Mall of Asia.
The leading online-to-offline parenting platform in the country is gearing up to make the "ber months" more memorable for Filipino families, with the largest expo event in the country this year.
A cherished family tradition, "Family Expo" is a perfect blend of shopping, exploration and exciting activities for all family members.
"We're thrilled to offer a fun shopping and educational event for Filipino families," said Gupta.
"The 'Family Expo 2023' is more than just an event, it is a space where the whole family can come together to share joyous experiences, create lasting memories and grab exciting deals ahead of the holiday shopping rush."
The D'Souzas moved to the Philippines over a decade ago and have both been pursuing entrepreneurial ventures.
Prior to edamama, Gupta built AdSpark, one of the leading digital marketing agencies under Globe Telecom, while D'Souza led Philippine operations for a regional private equity firm, Creador, where he oversaw the rollout for Mr. DIY (Do It Yourself), Southeast Asia's largest home improvement retailer.
The couple has been married since 2011 and have two kids, Alena (10) and Evan (5), with one on the way this December. D'Souza and Gupta have been getting support from the other in the work that they do.
"We'd like to think we have complementary skill sets so we are able to segregate our tasks, play to our respective strengths while coming together in making key strategic decisions for the business," granted D'Souza. "We practice open communication with each other, which keeps the feedback loops very open and candid.
"Having a strong support system is integral for us as busy, working parents. We also try to be deliberate about time management — making time for our kids and loved ones, and each other is essential and we try to be deliberate about striking that balance. We rely on calendaring heavily, too, to stay organized.
"We have two children who keep us grounded and balanced in our lives. We are hands-on parents of two kids, and enjoy spending time especially on weekends with them. They are very active in sports, music and the arts, and we try to accompany them as much as possible, while also running errands and chores together as a family."
The D'Souzas love traveling together.
Before the lockdown happened in 2020, the D'Souzas trekked to Palawan with Gupta's family.
"We were delighted to show off the beauty of the Philippines to them, including a trip to the Underground River near Puerto Princesa," D'Souza shared.
"We have a keen interest in traveling as a family. We try to drive to the beach or visit a new country whenever we get the opportunity to.
"We made the decision as a family to temporarily relocate to Australia [where Nish grew up] during the pandemic. We were fortunate to be in Perth where, very fortunately, there were no lockdown restrictions and our children could lead normal lives including attending school in person."
Weekdays for the family are packed with running edamama.
"Bela looks after our customer touchpoints, marketing, product and growth, while I look after strategy, operations and finance.
"On weekends, we try to spend as much time together as a family while pursuing our individual hobbies and interests, and encourage everyone in the company to do the same."
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Quick questions
What is your biggest fear?
Losing a loved one.
What really makes you angry?
Traffic
What motivates you to work hard?
Our mission.
What makes you laugh the most?
Our kids.
What would you do if you won the lotto?
Uplift lives.
If you could share a meal with any individual living or dead, who would they be?
Pope Francis
What was the last book you read?
"12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos" by Jordan Peterson.
What celebrity would you like to meet for a cup of coffee?
Michael Jordan
What is the most daring thing you have ever done?
Run a business together.
What is the one thing you will never do again ?
Eat balut.
