Business mum honoured at university for breastfeeding product

A graduate in Environmental Planning has been honoured by her former university for a very different achievement.

Keira O’Mara, graduated from Birmingham City University in 1998 and has been invited back this month to a graduation ceremony.

She has been honoured in the University’s Alumni of the Year in the Enterprise and Innovation category.

Keira is the inventor of the Mamascarf, a device to support a breastfeeding baby and offer the mother some privacy.

After initially selling them through her own website, mothers across the country demanded the product so much that they soon went on sale in in Mothercare, Amazon, Tesco, Boots and Kiddicare.

Keira says: “This wasn’t something that I planned at all but it came along at a time when I was looking for a more flexible job so I could spend more time with my family and it’s all worked out well for me.”

I was really pleased to be nominated for Alumni of the Year, and it was great to be recognised by my old university in this way.”