Boobs-’n-Burps in Dilbeek was started by Roeline Ham in 2010; a month later came another in Antwerp. The inspiration is American: In 2003 Ham followed her husband to New York, intending not to work. Instead she took a job at a place called Upper Breast Side, where she rented out breast pumps to nursing mothers who wanted to go back to work but continue breastfeeding. The store, opened by a former officer of the NYPD, also sells clothing and accessories, as well as providing space for mothers to feed their babies in the city, away from what are often disapproving eyes.

She returned to Flanders two years later, and saw that the provision for breastfeeding was practically non-existent. “The idea grew to put my career aside and choose the wild life. There is a demand and a need for a breastfeeding store,” she writes on her website. “So moms can find all they need to complete their breastfeeding journey, preferably with lots of laughs and fun.” The shop’s name was thought up by her brother Otto- Jan, a Studio Brussel DJ.

The success of the two shops in Flanders led last week to Ham’s enterprise being chosen as the most promising start-up in the Women in Enterprise and Development (Womed) Awards, organised by Unizo, the organisation for the selfemployed, and the women’s business network markant. The jury praised Ham for her “innovation and determination to start her own business”, as well as her “woman-friendly policy and social commitment”. The start-up prize was awarded this year for the first time.

“I’d had enough of the stuffy image that hangs around breastfeeding,” she told De Standaard. “There’s a lot of attention paid to the medical aspect of breastfeeding, but very little to the woman’s experience. We want to make breastfeeding cool.”

The other Womed prize given out last week, for woman entrepreneur of the year, went to Daniëlle Vanwesenbeeck, who started her direct-mailing business eight years ago and now employs 15 people, with a turnover of €2.8 million last year.