A pair of best pals are celebrating as their celebrity-endorsed business is now turning over £41,000 a month despite only forming during the Covid pandemic.

Laura Boswell, of Billericay, and Laura McBride took the plunge and launched BabyChum just weeks after the first lockdown was put in place by the government.

The business – an online marketplace of handpicked family, baby and parenting gifts that supports more than 450 independent sellers – now boasts celebrity fans such as Ferne McCann, Stacey Solomon and Danielle Armstrong.

Ms Boswell, 31, is overjoyed with how BabyChum’s success in its first year.

She said: “It’s been such a rollercoaster year for us and we’ve been working every hour under the sun.

“There have been huge emotional highs and lows. We decided to go ahead with launching BabyChum in April 2020, just weeks after lockdown had been announced, and it was definitely the right decision.

“We launched with just 300 products and just a handful of sellers. Now, just one year on, we’re up to more than 2,400 products and more than 463 sellers.”

Miss McCann, the former TOWIE star, was approached by the duo in June about collaborating on a kids’ clothing collection.

Endorsed - former TOWIE star Ferne McCann has teamed up with BabyChum

Endorsed - former TOWIE star Ferne McCann has teamed up with BabyChum

The television personality agreed to the proposal and BabyChum’s social media accounts went into a frenzy when the collection launched in November.

Ms McBride said: “The Ferne collection was a huge success for our first ever celebrity collection.

“We had about 2,000 followers on Instagram which then flew up to 26,000, as well as selling thousands of units across the whole range.

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“Sam Faiers took a photo of her little girl Rosie wearing one of our tracksuits from the Ferne collection and posted it on social media, which led to us pretty much selling out.

“Working with Ferne was a huge step forward for the business and one that got us seen on a large scale.”

The business has now teamed up with Harrods and is supplying the store with their first luxury toy box – costing £2,199.

High-end product - BabyChum is supplying Harrods’ first luxury toy box, costing £2,199

High-end product - BabyChum is supplying Harrods’ first luxury toy box, costing £2,199

Ms Boswell added: “Harrods is such a luxury department store and getting in front of the right person is no easy task.

“Then trying to win them over to buy your product is even harder.

“This is an example of how high our standards are.

“We don’t fall at the first hurdle and never take no for an answer.”