From naval officer to marketing manager to a pregnant woman back in her hometown unable to find a job, Jordanna Davis was inspired to ensure no other mother wanting paid employment would be in her position.

So, this month, she founded Motina Hive, a mother’s hub of training and skills to mums and full-time carers. The Hive officially launched on 18 December; the event was sold out, and several clients are already on board.  

The social enterprise, as Ms Davis, also its CEO, calls it, brings mothers on board, ones who need some help returning to or entering the workforce. The Hive helps build up their skills and offers training and then opportunities to make money.

“We provide mums with paid work through clients,” Ms Davis explained. On their books, they currently have clients in PR events, administration, and social media management. “We can also do web design and marketing.“

Ms Davis was inspired by her own challenges finding work as a pregnant woman.

“I even applied at ice cream shops, and no one would hire me with my big tummy,” Ms Davis said. “From there, I realised that mums struggle to find work.”

Ms Davis started thinking of ways to help other women, one where mothers would be able to earn an income with the unpredictable schedule that having children brings.  Though the idea had been in her mind for quite a while, she said she lacked the confidence to take the next step.

“After being rejected from so many things, it really knocks you down, which is part of the reason I wanted to do it.”

She juggled motherhood while doing professional development courses such as project management, before putting those new skills to work with companies close to home and as far away as Melbourne. Her firstborn child is now four, and the family has grown by two more since then.

Nine months ago, Ms Davis started building a space where mothers could come to learn new and relevant skills, and further professional development while also gaining access to paid flexible employment.

Motina Hive was soon born. (The name, incidentally, is a play on words: it means “mother” in multiple languages.)

“One night, I was sitting there and just decided I’m going to set a launch date and send out my launch date to people,” she said. “I hadn’t actually prepared anything at that point yet. I was thinking that I would have until a couple of months before launch, and I could do it slowly.”

Clients started to roll in, and asked if the launch could be brought forward, as they had work they wanted done. Ms Davis put a call out for mothers who wanted to gain confidence, skills, and future employment. She reached out through her daughter’s playgroup and the wives of her husband’s work colleagues who were stay-at-home mums.

Ms Davis has already more than surpassed her original goal of helping one mum in the first year: three mothers were in paid employment before the hub even launched. Their first success story is a stay-at-home mum of four who home schools her children, and hadn’t been in paid employment in 12 years.

“At her interview, it was via Zoom and she couldn’t get her camera on; we had to talk her through that, and now she’s managing people’s social media. She’s totally across it. She’s come a long way; we’re really proud of how she’s doing.”

The main aim of the program is to provide both the skills and confidence for the women to then go and do what they like, says Ms Davis. The new goal is to help 20 mums in a two-year period – a goal that looks very likely to be met. Three mums already receive pay checks, and another four are on the waiting list. The latter receive a free training package in social media and marketing.

One of her sponsors, the Australian College of Skills and Education (ACSE), will offer two mothers full scholarships for a certificate or diploma that aligns with their goals. Applications for the scholarships are open until 8 January and can be found on the Motina Hive website.

The mother’s hub is funded by Ms Davis and her sponsors: ACSE, Assessment Management Associates, and Flazeda Hub.

Ms Davis is looking into available government funding, and is contacting more sponsors so she can help more mothers.

The word is quickly spreading about the new enterprise: after clients employ one mum, they then tell others how happy they were with it. The mothers have been coming in the same way, being told by mum friends.

Ms Davis said most of the work will be something mothers can do from home and fit around their schedule. Some opt to do it at night once the kids are in bed. Other opportunities may look different and require on location hours, all of which could be done during the school day.

However it looks, she is dedicated to ensuring mums of our region will have access to employment opportunities.

“We’re talking with companies about the mums coming on as actual employees of other companies as well as employees of our company. So, we’ve got a lot of different opportunities available.”

Find out how to get involved: motinahive.com. Opportunities will be announced on Instagram; follow Motina Hive on: instagram.com/motina.hive

Get all the latest Canberra news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, competitions and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Canberra Daily Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.