Mae Inda is not yet 50 years old, but she has done things worth three lives. She is an accountant by profession, an entrepreneur by nature, and a researcher by principle. She has had many projects, but today everyone knows her for being the creator of El Mundo de Amalia (Amalia’s World), a venture that began with toys but is now much more.
We started playing
“The pretext was toys for my daughter Amalia,” says Mae while taking off her shoes and putting her bare feet on the floor of a house in Vedado, where she has one of her venues.
“My daughter has a disability and needed special toys that were not available in Cuba. Bringing them was expensive, because toys are already expensive, imagine that kind. In addition, they are heavy because they are made of wood.” Thus, from buying in one country and receiving a donation from another, from seeing other families with the same conditions and needs, Mundo Amalia was born, a store of Montessori sensory toys made in Cuba, and much more.
“I can say that I have had toys from specialized stores of all the entrepreneurs in the country, as I have also sent toys to all the provinces, some less than others, but in all of Cuba there is a representation of my project,” she says.
Sovi, Rutami, Del Ingenio, Perro Sato, BARocha, La Casa del Juguete, are the best-known Cuban brands on the market and that inhabit and coexist in the same space, in a world created by Mae, where everyone is necessary and contributes according to the needs of each child.
“I haven’t had problems with any of these brands; on the contrary, what I have received from all of them is support and a lot of brotherhood. We have grown as a family. I don’t believe there is competition among them either. In addition, I don’t believe in competition, but I do believe in the substitution of one product for another, but not in competition per se; and then there is advertising. And in Cuba there is more demand than supply, even when demand is low.”
And while Mae pauses in the interview to attend to customers who come to the store looking for something or to pick up an order, she talks about her experiences with families who have incorporated these products into their lives.
“Many think that because they are wooden toys, painted and handmade, they have less value; when actually this means the opposite. Others see their needs met with this proposal that has a variety of shapes, colors and sizes, and can even be personalized according to the characteristics of each boy or girl who needs or wants it,” she explains.
For various reasons, demand is low. It is due to a lack of knowledge of this type of toys; that is why one of the strengths of the project is training, educational talks in any space, to learn by playing. “I have seen myself giving a lecture in the most unthinkable places, but I give them all with the same love; the important thing is that the adults learn so that the little ones can have those toys.”
Family as the main strength and “no daycare”
Working with the family doesn’t have to be chaos, you just have to be patient; because no one will make a better team than your family if you want to carry out a great project. Mae explains it, in her own way and with spoonfuls of science and experience. “My father, my mother, my husband, and even my son Mauricio. We are all a team.”
Tomás Inda, her father, is one of the most recognized photographers in Cuba. For several years he has led the School of Creative Photography of Havana (EFCH), where lovers and connoisseurs of the art of capturing life in an instant have passed through. EFCH was created before El Mundo de Amalia, but now both projects coexist, even though they seem distant.
“My mother is in charge of the kitchen at Casa Lela, my husband is my right-hand man and my son Mauricio is the one who helps the most when a child is in crisis in the no daycare,” explains Mae. Casa Lela was the first venue of El Mundo de Amalia, far from the center of the capital but perfect for those who live far from the crowds. Mae liked it that way, the calm and controlled environment contribute more. Before, it was just a space to share with other families who recognized in her proposal the solution to their needs. The store occupied the main attention and toys of all kinds coexisted in the same space, at the same time that they were displayed in their online store, which reports the highest sales.
That same need that mothers have as main caregivers is what gave rise to the “no daycare” in Casa Lela, a safe space with neuroscience applied to education as a concept. In this space, obviously, they use wooden toys.
Thanks to family support, not only from those closest to Mae, but also from the founding families of no daycare, it has been possible to maintain the space, which ended up taking over the entire house and moving the physical store to El Vedado.
“It was impossible to keep everything in the same place. How do you control that the children do not take the toys that are for sale if in the end they are the same ones they play with? To avoid conflicts and take better advantage of the space in the house, we decided to have another location.”
Her umbrella project is the MSME TragaLuz S.R.L., a company that leads all the work. “We had to create the MSME because there were already too many projects coexisting. It has gone very well for us; we have been able to carry out all the actions we wanted under a legal framework.”
The no daycare center is not a nursery, Mae clarifies every three minutes: “it is a space to socialize, not only for boys and girls, but also for mothers, families in general. It has been one of the nicest things I have had, because when I see the assistants working with the children and that love and hugs are their language, I understand that everything has been worth it.”
That is why from the Taberna de las Mamás, families can stay the rest of the day but without intervening in the activities that are carried out with the girls and boys. “They can watch everything, but without talking. It is like educating the little ones and their families at the same time.”
Collaboration, the watchword
Mae is a training example. A few years ago, she did an online Master’s in Neuroscience, then she began to see life differently. Where many see conflict, she sees a step to solve a bigger problem. “When you manage to understand the human brain, you have understood everything,” she says.
Amalia has undoubtedly been her main challenger. To understand it, she enrolled in the Master’s; now she is happier, she managed to learn why her daughter has difficulty with mobility, or manages to do some things and not others. She also learned about emotions, but in that sense, Mauricio is the model of her classes: “Mauri is a happy child, there is no other definition.” When she mentions happiness, his eyes light up. “We have to know about emotions, to see our strengths or weaknesses, only then will we be able to be happy.”
So that others can learn too, Mae has written eight books under the label of Ediciones Boloña, which are available in her store (physical and online). In collaboration with UNICEF, she has worked on the children’s playhouse project, equipping each one with a toy module.
“In every hospital or children’s diagnostic area throughout the country there is a module of our toys. We have donated them with a lot of love, because we know that they will be very useful there,” says the entrepreneur.
The brotherhood with which they work at El Mundo de Amalia is impressive. A family needs something and they all work together for that. “That’s how it is with toys, but also with medicines, with some specific food. We are a great team.”
“This is not a business that makes money, only enough to make it sustainable,” says Mae; but she does not give up, she knows that her toys are necessary, and that for girls and boys like Amalia and others, she must continue working. And also innovating: many items that are sold in her store today were previously owned by others, but they reached Mae, who restored and painted them to make them available to new hands, who will take them to another home where they can once again bring happiness.
