In 2014, Hani Yassa created Charli Chair with inspiration from his wife Meray. Their wish: Find a simpler way to bathe their children with ease at different stages of their life.
How it all began
My wife Meray has always struggled with bath time. Whether it’s the slip and slide at the newborn age, not to mention the aches and pains of both her knees and back, or the battle with the toddler who refuses to graduate to the shower. She hated everything to do with bath time.
With our last child she decided there was an easier way and set out to find it. When it looked hopeless I asked her sketch what she felt this life altering chair would look like. I utilised the knowledge gained from my MBA and the tools I learnt to build a brand and bring the idea to fruition.
We have been working on this real life project for the past three years and have enjoyed every moment. We are now in all the major baby outlets here in Australia. Internationally, we have distributors in the UAE and KSA, and have a few other deals in the works. But we have always agreed that our success is due to having the tools acquired at MGSM.
About Charli Chair: Charli Chair has been around since 2014 and is currently sold in all major baby stores Australia wide as well as in the UAE and KSA. We’ve been on the Australian version of Shark Tank and managed to secure an ongoing relationship with one of the Sharks/Investors. We were currently runners up in the coveted Innovation Awards at the Kind un Jugend Expo in Cologne Germany, and have since been in the talks with a few international distributors.