Partner Article

Born to last: Stone Shi

Mayborn Group | Tommee Tippee
Words by Peter Anderson
Photography by Mike Sreenan

www.mayborngroup.com
www.tommeetippee.com/en-gb
LinkedIn: Mayborn Group Limited

For more than 60 years, Tommee Tippee has been a trusted name for generations of parents, growing from a simple weighted-base cup into a global parent-care brand. Now, Stone Shi, chief executive of Newcastle-based parent company Mayborn Group, is plotting its next chapter, combining the heritage of one of Britain’s most recognisable brands with new products, partnerships and plans to extend its reach around the world. Here, Stone speaks to Peter Anderson about his vision for Tommee Tippee, the importance of its North East roots and how lessons learned through business, endurance running and high-altitude mountaineering continue to shape his approach to leadership.

Three American brothers. A dog called Tommee. And a cup that refused to be knocked over.

It may sound an unlikely recipe for a global business, but more than 60 years ago, those were the ingredients that gave birth to Tommee Tippee.

Designed in California in the early 1960s, the ingenious infant cup featured a weighted base, allowing it to be pushed and tipped by inquisitive little hands before righting itself again.

Its inventors named their creation after their beloved dog Tommee, but it was across the Atlantic where the idea truly took off.

A British businessman spotted its potential and invested in the concept, and in 1965 Tommee Tippee made its way to Blyth, brought to the North East by Graham McConnochie.

It was the beginning of an enduring relationship with the region.

From those humble beginnings, Tommee Tippee has grown into one of Britain’s most recognisable parent-care names, with its bottles, soothers and feeding products becoming fixtures of family life in homes across the country and far beyond.

And while products, technology and parenting itself have changed considerably in the six decades since, the familiarity of the Tommee Tippee name has endured, earning a level of trust that has been passed from one generation to the next.

Today, the brand reaches parents in more than 60 countries.

And charged with writing its next chapter is Stone Shi, the amiable and energetic chief executive of parent company Mayborn Group, who arrived in 2024 with an enviable global CV, a passion for innovation and a stated ambition to make Tommee Tippee “the most loved parent-care brand in the world”.

Like Tommee Tippee, Stone arrived in the North East following a journey that began on the other side of the globe.

Born and raised in northern China, his career began at consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, where he spent 15 years learning the fundamentals of brands, products and people.

He tells N magazine: “I think of Procter & Gamble as the hometown of my career.

“It shaped so much of how I work and lead today, particularly the importance of really understanding consumers and building brands and products around their needs.”

From there came a move into a very different world; Stone joined Amazon, which he says added another layer to his leadership philosophy.

He adds: “I was really inspired by the culture at Amazon – the customer obsession, the long-term thinking and the focus on innovation.

“It was also where I began to understand the power of e-commerce, data and artificial intelligence, and how technology could transform the way we understand and serve customers.”

Further senior roles followed, including at Chinese technology giant Alibaba, before Stone moved into investment, broadening an already varied career spanning consumer goods, technology and finance.

However, after years spent exploring different sides of business, he found himself drawn back towards where his career had started.

He says: “I realised I wanted to get back to the consumer world; I wanted to create things that were more meaningful and lasting for people.

“And then the opportunity at Mayborn Group came along.”

It was, he says, an unusually good fit.

The business offered the opportunity to bring together the consumer understanding and brand-building discipline of Procter & Gamble with the speed, technology and data-led thinking he had encountered later in his career.

But there was something else about Mayborn Group that immediately appealed.

He says: “Becoming a parent is one of the most important moments in people’s lives.

“If we can understand parents better, solve some of the problems they face and make that experience a little easier, then we’re doing something very meaningful.”

And while Stone may have arrived at the helm of a business with six decades of history behind it, he is determined longevity never becomes an excuse for complacency.

His approach combines long-term thinking with a sense of ownership and a belief that people should be given the opportunity to build careers, rather than simply do jobs.

But another philosophy, borrowed from his years at Amazon, perhaps best captures the mentality he is trying to instil.

He says: “Every day is day one.

“You respect the heritage and everything that has been built over the years, but you can never stop learning, changing and moving forward.”

Those six decades of history also give Tommee Tippee something Stone believes many rivals cannot replicate.

He adds: “It is trust built over generations.

“People trust us because we have proved ourselves on quality, safety and doing the right thing with our products.

“Heritage is something we have that they don’t. That is our foundation.”

But while that trust represents a distinct advantage in an increasingly crowded parent-care market, Stone is adamant heritage alone cannot dictate what comes next.

He says: “We are a 60-year-old company, but we should run it like a start-up.

“There are new brands coming into the market all the time, so we have to run faster, keep innovating and keep finding ways to be better.”

And for Mayborn Group, part of that means broadening its reach beyond the products and markets upon which Tommee Tippee has traditionally built its success.

While Tommee Tippee remains comfortably the largest part of the group – Stone jokes it occupies “95 per cent” of his energy – acquisitions have extended the business into new areas of parent-care.

Sleep specialist Gro joined Mayborn Group in 2017, while US breast pump business Baby Buddha followed in 2023, strengthening the group’s presence in a category where Tommee Tippee had historically been less prominent.

Stone says: “We already had breastfeeding products, but we weren’t particularly strong in that area.

“Baby Buddha had fantastic products and expertise, particularly in North America, so it strengthened that part of our portfolio.

“Likewise, Gro gives us a presence in baby sleepwear and apparel.

“Each brand brings something different, but together they allow us to support parents across more of the parenting journey.”

Already a market leader in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, Stone sees considerable scope for Mayborn Group to grow in North America, as well as opportunities across Asia and South America.

But expanding geographically is only part of the equation.

Staying relevant to a new generation of parents also means rethinking how a familiar 60-year-old brand looks, feels and innovates.

That evolution has become increasingly visible this year.

In June, Tommee Tippee embarked upon the first brand collaboration in its history, joining forces with luxury baby brand BINIBAMBA on a limited-edition collection that paired some of its best-known essentials with a more fashion-forward aesthetic.

It has since followed that with a partnership with iconic British design house Morris & Co., whose Strawberry Thief and Acanthus patterns have been reimagined across bottles, soothers and bibs.

But design is only one side of that reinvention.

Technology is increasingly helping Mayborn Group understand parents more deeply, with the business using artificial intelligence to analyse large volumes of consumer feedback, while bringing parents, midwives and healthcare professionals into the product development process earlier.

Stone says: “The closer we stay to parents, the smarter we are.

“We have to understand their problems and frustrations, sometimes before they can articulate them themselves.

“That’s where innovation starts.”

And there are few better examples than Perfect Prep.

First launched in 2013, the formula preparation machine was designed around a familiar parental frustration: preparing a bottle safely, quickly and at the right temperature.

More than a decade later, Tommee Tippee has unveiled a new-generation Perfect Prep that can deliver a fresh formula feed in just 90 seconds.

For Stone, it is precisely the kind of innovation that encapsulates what Tommee Tippee must continue to do: take an everyday parenting problem, understand it intimately and find a smarter way to solve it.

He says: “Everything has to come back to a real problem for parents.

“With Perfect Prep, that was preparing the milk, getting the temperature right and doing it quickly.

“It sounds simple, but that is what good innovation should do: solve a real problem and make life easier.”

And while Mayborn Group’s products may ultimately find their way into homes around the world, much of the thinking behind them remains firmly rooted in Newcastle.

Today, around 300 people work from the group’s headquarters in Longbenton and, for Stone, the North East remains an integral part of Mayborn Group’s identity.

He says: “There is something special about the North East, and I see many of the same qualities in its people that we value at Mayborn Group.

“People here are very practical.

“They want to create things that have real purpose and think for the long-term, and that reflects how we approach our products – making sure they genuinely add value for parents.”

“There is also a strong sense of community.

“People look out for one another and that is exactly the kind of culture I want us to have too.”

Those roots are reflected in employees who have spent decades with the business, as well as close links with the region’s universities.

The vast majority of Mayborn Group’s Newcastle workforce hail from the North East, while the firm works with local universities to develop the next generation of talent.

Stone adds: “We have people who have spent their whole careers here – we recently celebrated someone who has been with the company for 40 years.

“But we also want to bring in young talent through our graduate programme and give them meaningful opportunities.

“And as our global reach grows, I want people to know they can build an international career from the North East.

“We are already sending people we have developed here to North America and Australia to gain experience and perhaps one day bring that back to Newcastle.”

That emphasis on the long-term – on development, resilience and the journey ahead – extends beyond Stone’s working life.

A former basketball player, he took up distance running around 15 years ago and has since completed 47 marathons, describing the hours on the road as a form of meditation – and a valuable space to reflect and, on occasion, make business decisions.

Later this year, he will line up for his next marathon in Shanghai, before turning to an altogether different challenge in China’s Xinjiang region, where he plans to climb the 7546-metre Muztagh Ata – known as the ‘Father of Ice Mountains’.

It will be his highest climb yet.

Stone says: “There are a lot of similarities between endurance sport and business.

“With a marathon, you need the courage to start, preparation and resilience along the way – but you also have to enjoy the journey.

“Climbing teaches you something different.

“When you are at 6000 or 7000 metres, and the air is thin, you have no choice but to focus.

“And business is the same; strategy is also about knowing what not to do.

“If you try to focus on everything, you create activity, rather than momentum.

“You have to decide what really matters and give it your full focus.”

It is an approach that should serve Stone well, both on the slopes of Muztagh Ata and back at Mayborn Group.

For while Tommee Tippee has already travelled a remarkable distance over the past six decades, Stone is convinced there are greater heights still to reach.

He adds: “We have a wonderful brand, a great heritage and fantastic people, but there is still so much more we can do.

“We have to keep challenging ourselves, innovating and moving forward.

“We have 60 years behind us, but I’m much more excited about what comes next.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by N Magazine .