October hosts Women Entrepreneurship Week, and as a celebration of the week in 2022 startGBC has the pleasure of featuring an amazing Women Entrepreneur for this month’s spotlight – Idil Asik. Idil started her business Rock-A-Toy when she was on maternity leave with her little one – selling unique and educational toys. Rock-a-toy – “A Mum Owned-Montessori Inspired Boutique Toy Shop” soon became very popular as all her products are lovingly hand crafted with non-toxic materials.
About Idil Asik
I was a bank auditor for over 10 years, I travelled all around Turkey for branch audits and I conducted process audits at headquarters. Then life turned me into an entrepreneur when I saw the importance of the right toys in a child’s development. Everything started with becoming a mum. I started selling hand-crafted, Montessori friendly, unique educational toys that are made with non-toxic materials. This is a niche area and Rock-a-toy stands out from the crowd with these unique characteristics.
Academic Background
I have a university degree from Turkey and I am also a graduate of the George Brown College post-graduate diploma in Digital Media Marketing.
What made you want to become an entrepreneur?
After having my little one, the world was never the same for me, more so due to the pandemic. I was at a point of breaking down and was suffering with depression – small baby, massive changes in the world, my family unable to visit and help me because the border was closed.
All of these led me to chase my dream of having my own business. I saw an opportunity to fill a need in a niche market and wanted to share my creative passion while working from home independently. That’s how Rock-A-Toy came to be.
Why did you create your business?
During pregnancy I read lots of books, and a big number of them praised the importance of wooden toys. I also knew a little bit about the wooden toys business but those ones were manufacturing classical wooden toys like trains and cars. I changed the style to educational wooden toys for Rock-A-Toy as I identified a market gap.
What successes have you enjoyed so far with building your company?
My business is like my baby, the more I take care of it, the more growth I see – which makes me very happy.
What is one piece of advice you would give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
“Success only comes through action. NEVER ever make plans only, sometimes you need to make the plans later.” – Idil Asik
Website & Socials
Website: https://rockatoy.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rockatoy/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockatoyshops/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/rockatoy/