'I wanted to give nurses something that makes them feel good'

At 25, Antonia Steven fits the profile of a go-getting businesswoman creating products for nurses. She’s full of ideas, energy and enthusiasm, and knows her target market well. She knows it very well. Because she’s not just a businesswoman - she’s a children’s nurse.

“I qualified as a nurse two years ago, but almost immediately identified a problem with antibacterial hand creams and hand soaps,” she says. “My hands were broken down, bleeding and sore from using the poor-quality products in the healthcare sector, so I had to stay off work because of the infection risk.”

Not that Ms Steven used the time to catch up on This Morning and Loose Women. She immediately started researching products that could resolve her problem - and found none. So, like many inventors, she decided to create the solution, which she now sells under the umbrella brand Yes! Nurse.

Her business partner had launched products into Boots, and knew how to go about manufacturing a product from scratch and the route to market, so helped Ms Steven to find a British manufacturer (an absolute must), which could produce a sustainable, natural product to her specification that would protect and heal hands.

“I found all the ingredients I wanted, and researched the best sources. For example, UMF rated active manuka honey from New Zealand essential, but there are some dodgy sources out there so finding them was tough.”

She had to make some compromises along the way.

“I wanted to sing from the rooftops about it being an all natural product. Yet I found that many preservatives are chemical based, and not good when you consider that up to 70% of what you put on your skin can be absorbed into your bloodstream. Thankfully, we’ve managed to use naturally derived preservatives, but they cost a lot.

“I have become something of a hand cream geek. I spend far too much time looking at labels and seeing all the active ingredients in such small quantities at the bottom of the list, so I wanted it to be the other way around for mine. And it is.”

Her business partner is managing the expansion into other nurse wellbeing products, while Ms Steven is the face of the brand between shifts as a nurse. She has no ambition to change that.

“I think Yes! Nurse’s USP is that I am a nurse and I understand things from a nurse’s perspective,” she says. “Without that, I think the brand would lose credibility. Besides, I don’t want to give up nursing, because I love it. I want to launch this brand for the same reason I became a nurse - to help people, and to fix their problems.”

Ms Steven’s empathy with the audience has helped her create an affordable product (it’s £5 for a 50ml bottle). It can easily be carried around in a uniform pocket to use while on shifts.

She plans to launch a wide range of innovative products to support nurses during their day, as well making the Yes! Nurse website a one-stop destination with advice and discussion on keeping happy and healthy during a shift.

Products will be sold directly to nurses. Ms Steven is considering monthly subscriptions where nurses can buy at discounted rates.

The pricing will be as keen as possible. “It means the margins aren’t fantastic, but it’s not just about profit for me. I don’t want to be a millionaire - that’s clearly not what I am about if I became a nurse. I want to help people.”

The brand was planned to be life affirming - down to the name. “We chose Yes! Nurse because we wanted our brand to be positive and fun. Nurses are required to be highly professional, but sometimes this can become a little stifling, as we’re all human after all. We wanted to make nurses smile and be happy, even after a dreaded night shift.

“Nurses can feel quite deflated and under appreciated. And I just wanted to give them something that makes them feel good.”

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