ORONOCO, Minn. — Running out of inventory and options as she looks for a path to save her company wrecked by tariffs,
is trying to crowdfund $229,000 to pay what she describes as a “ransom” on three months’ worth of
products stranded in China, where they were made.
Benike, who last month was named
Minnesota’s Small Business Person of the year by the Small Business Administration
, said it was not an easy decision to turn to
to keep her business afloat.
ADVERTISEMENT
“This is the very LAST thing I ever wanted to have to do … I will not teach my kids how to quit when bad things happen. I’m going to set my ego aside and ask for help and keep fighting,” Benike wrote on the GoFundMe campaign that she launched on Sunday.
As of Tuesday morning, the campaign had collected more than $17,000, almost 8% of the overall goal.
The roadblock of tariffs struck as Benike is fully leveraged, with loans using her house as collateral. She took out additional loans to finance making more products to fulfill an expanded contract with Walmart.
Bringing the shipment of about three months’ worth of products to the U.S. isn’t a long-term solution to the tariff problem, but it would buy her some time to map out a plan to save her 8-year-old company.
“There are some viable potential paths, but none that I can execute quickly enough to save our business. I’ve got to pay the ransom and get our products here so we can have a little more time to figure this out,” she wrote.
The business at stake — Busy Baby — makes eight baby-related products, including a patented signature product, the Busy Baby Mat. The soft silicone placemat features suction cups to stay in place with stretchy tethers to attach baby toys.
Benike, who is a U.S. Army veteran, created the prototype for the placemat in her kitchen in Oronoco. Helped by economic development groups including the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation in Owatonna, she started to grow Busy Baby and even made an appearance on the “Shark Tank” TV show that features start-up pitches.
ADVERTISEMENT
She now co-owns the company with her brother Eric Fynbo. They have a warehouse/distribution center in Zumbrota with five employees. Millions of Busy Baby mats are now being used in houses around the world.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China were not a surprise, and Benike had budgeted $31,000 to cover the tariff she expected on her current shipment of products in China. However, she did not anticipate the tariff climbing over a few days to 145%.
Given that making products here is not financially or logistically in a timeline to save Busy Baby, Benike said she is looking at transforming her business into a global brand to sell to international customers instead of in the U.S.
Paying the tariff and getting her product shipment to the U.S. will give her the time to hammer out that plan or other options for keeping Busy Baby busy.
Source: bing.com
