A Tug on the Heart
Some journeys begin with a business plan. Babue began with a tug on my heart.
When my son was little, I wanted to carry him the way I had seen babies carried growing up, close to the body, in rhythm with life. In the communities I grew up in, babywearing was simply the way babies moved through the world. Babies were carried as meals were prepared, as conversations flowed, as life unfolded.
But when I searched for a carrier, I struggled to find one that truly honored my body. The carriers I tried created pressure points and discomfort. I could feel how the weight of carrying was concentrating in ways that would eventually strain my back and shoulders.
As an Occupational Therapist, my mind naturally moved toward biomechanics. I understood how weight should distribute through the body. I understood how joints and muscles respond to load. And I knew that if carrying a child was something parents did every day, the design needed to protect the caregiver's musculoskeletal system as much as it supported the baby.
So I began to design.
What started as a desire to carry my son comfortably slowly became something more. My son grew quickly as children do. Soon I needed a toddler carrier. Then a big kid carrier. He proudly "retired" from being carried at seven years old, a milestone that still makes me laugh.
But along the way, something had become clear to me. There were many parents who wanted the same thing I did: to care for their children without sacrificing their own bodies. So I decided to share what I had learned.
I hired an experienced seamstress and together we created our first carrier model. From there, we began holding regular focus groups with parents, gathering feedback and refining the design again and again.
Designing for Every Family+-
Over time, the carriers evolved. After several years, our focus groups began to include families from organizations such as the Alberta Cerebral Palsy Association, the Edmonton Down Syndrome Society, and special needs babywearing groups across Edmonton. These families helped us understand how carriers could better support children with low neck and trunk tone or involuntary head movements.
Their voices shaped the design in profound ways. One of the biggest challenges was creating a headrest that could truly support a wide range of needs. It took over a year of testing, redesigning, and listening before we felt we had something that was truly inclusive.
The Torso Support Strap+-
At the same time, we were developing what would become one of the most important features of the carrier: the Torso Support Strap. From the beginning, we knew this design would be transformative.
The strap creates a 360-degree enveloping support system that brings caregiver and baby into a unified carrying structure. Instead of the baby's weight pulling downward on the shoulders, the design distributes load across the body in a way that supports both partners in the carry.
We eventually patented this feature because we knew it would change the way weight could be distributed in a baby carrier.
Every Path Led Here+-
Looking back, I can see how every part of my life prepared me for this work. I grew up in an African community where babywearing was simply part of everyday life. During my first degree in Social Work, I was drawn deeply to attachment theory because I recognized in those academic discussions the very patterns of caregiving I had experienced growing up.
Later, while studying Psychology, those theories continued to shape my understanding of human development. Then in Occupational Therapy, my training in neuroscience and biomechanics refined the way I approached design, movement, and the relationship between bodies.
After many years of development, we began producing Babue carriers in small batches through an experienced babywearing educator and wrap conversion company who remain part of our research and development team to this day. Every person involved in producing Babue carriers has a deep understanding of babywearing safety and ASTM standards. Many are babywearing educators themselves.
"Kusina Amai hakuendwi." Without a mother, we do not go. In the Zimbabwean culture, this does not refer only to a biological mother. It speaks to something much broader. Throughout life, we all need mothers who walk with us, women who guide, support, nurture, and hold space when the path feels uncertain.
For me, Babue has become a space where I can walk alongside parents in the spirit of village. Over the years, many parents have begun calling me Mama Busi. In our culture, this name carries responsibility. It places you in a role of care and responsibility within the community.
Because when mothers feel supported, when their bodies feel safe and their hearts feel held, they are able to extend that same calm and presence to their children. And that is how villages are built.
Babue exists to support that circle of care.
— Busi, Founder & Occupational Therapist
Mbereko: The Art of Holding Life
In Zimbabwe, the cloth used to carry a baby is called Mbereko. But the word carries a meaning that cannot be fully translated into English.
In ChiShona, Mbereko describes the experience of holding life, first in the womb, and then on the caregiver's body after birth. While Chibereko refers to the physical womb, Mbereko speaks to the relational environment that surrounds and sustains life—an environment of warmth, rhythm, protection, and uninterrupted connection.
For generations, African mothers carried their babies on their backs using a simple cloth wrap. From this vantage point, the child experienced the world from the safety of the caregiver's body—feeling movement, hearing voices, and gradually becoming part of the rhythms of life. The mbereko became the child's first home outside the womb.
Babywearing was never considered a technique or trend. It was simply the continuation of relationship.
Because the truth is simple. Birth was never meant to break the relationship. A child is first held by the womb. Then by the arms of caregivers. And finally by the village that surrounds them.
Life begins in warmth, rhythm, and connection.
The child enters the world.
Closeness continues through babywearing.
The child grows within community.
Why Babue
For many years, our carriers were known as Babuebaby. But as the community around this work grew, something became clear. What we were building was not only about baby carriers.
It was about caregiving. It was about supporting parents as they learned to hold their children with confidence, connection, and compassion. It was about helping mothers feel supported in their own bodies so they could move through the rhythms of daily life with their children.
And it was about rediscovering something many cultures have always known—that children grow best when they are held within relationship and community.
The name Babue reflects this wider vision. It honors the spirit of babywearing that first inspired this journey, while making space for something larger: a place where caregivers and maternal health professionals can find knowledge, support, and a sense of village.
A place where parents, babywearing educators, occupational and physical therapists, pelvic floor therapists, doulas, midwives, lactation consultants, sleep coaches, and other caregivers gather around the shared work of nurturing life.
A place where ancestral African babywearing wisdom—carried through generations in practices like the Mbereko—is honored alongside modern research in neuroscience, biomechanics, and maternal health.
Because Babue is not just something you wear. It is something you belong to.
The Flame Lily
The Zimbabwe Flame Lily (Gloriosa Superba) is our brand symbol — a nod to life and heritage. You'll see it across our website, packaging, and digital identity. It represents the warmth and care we bring to every carrier we design.
Stories of heritage, wisdom, and belonging.
The founder writes about the traditions, language, and philosophy that gave Babue its name — from the Shona words for womb and birth, to the grandmother who carries the wisdom of generations.
Visit Babue Village →A Continuum of Care
The Meaning of Mbereko
The Meaning of Gogo