A mini baby boom is delivering unexpected business dividends.

It is also changing the way Canadian women manage their fertility.

Colleen Biggs was not supposed to have kids, at least that’s what the doctors told her. Yet, over a span of 21/2 years, she gave birth to three children.

Now she presides over The Natural Fertility Awareness Company Inc., a growing business based in Coronation, Alta. The company’s Ovu-Trac Ovulation Predictor Kit is rolling onto pharmacy shelves across the country.

At first, there were no plans to market the product, which retails for $99.95. Rated 96.2- per-cent accurate, Ovu-Trac predicts a woman’s fertile phase and day of ovulation. A medical device licensed by Health Canada, it even comes with its own microscope.

Dan Reidlhuber, for Business Edge
Michele Mitchell, Natural Fertility's Edmonton-based vice-president.

“I started developing the Ovu-Trac for purely selfish reasons. I had cancer and the doctors told me I would never conceive children. But I was very lucky to be able to treat the cancer and live without having any major portions of my body removed,” says Biggs from her Coronation head office, 200 kilometres east of Red Deer.

“What I initially set out to do was to learn how to manage my fertility so I could plan my pregnancy. I didn’t know how to manage my own fertility effectively, but then I was not expecting to get pregnant,” she says.

Biggs’ research began as a private venture, with the information gathered intended for her eyes only. She soon discovered, however, that it was “very, very frustrating” to find a product that met her needs.

That was mid-1996. Today, after her entrepreneurial side kicked in with the realization that there was a market void, the company has warehouses and distribution facilities in Edmonton and is planning to expand into the U.S. marketplace.

To keep costs down, Natural Fertility optimizes existing industry channels.

“We have a company that does our packing, assembly and shipping,” says Michele Mitchell, Natural Fertility’s Edmonton-based vice-president. “Instead of hiring our own sales team, we use (existing) pharmaceutical representatives across Canada.”

Bringing a fertility management tool to the market, at a time when Canadian birth rates were declining, did not deter Biggs.

On an average day in 1996, according to Statistics Canada data, 1,001 babies were born. Yet only 327,882 babies were conceived in 2000 – at the time, the lowest number since 1946.

“Making money is secondary to what I wanted to do. For me, helping women is the high point of all this,” says Biggs.

“My favourite part of the day is when we get calls or e-mails from women and they say, ‘It is because I have the Ovu-Trac that I was finally able to get pregnant,’” adds Mitchell. “What is astounding is that it allows women to track their fertility every day of their cycle and gives them a true understanding about their fertility.”

The reusable Ovu-Trac works by providing an accurate, comprehensive, economical method for identifying a woman’s fertile phase and day of ovulation.

“It is a natural, non-invasive alternative to urine testing,” says Mitchell.

“Simple daily saliva testing indicates ovulation even in the most irregular cycle.”

The Ovu-Trac works on the principle of salivary crystallization. When a woman enters her most fertile phase, her estrogen levels rise, causing her saliva to dry into frost-like crystals, often compared to ferns. They begin as small crystals when the woman first enters her fertile phase, and become more concentrated up to the time of ovulation.

By putting a saliva sample on to a slide and viewing it under the Ovu-Trac’s microscope, a woman can compare her sample with guidebook photographs. Testing requirements are minimal: no food, water or toothpaste 30 minutes prior. Two hours before testing: no alcohol, no foods containing sugar or nicotine products.

“It takes a commitment from a woman to learn about her own body, but by doing this, it is very empowering,” says Biggs.

“It is very effective in pinpointing a woman’s fertile days so she can plan conception accordingly.”

Ovu-Trac was initially introduced in late 1998 and sold by word of mouth and through referrals from some pharmacists and physicians.

But it wasn’t retail-ready, says Mitchell, who joined the company to help get the product the mass exposure it needed to reach women across the country.

“I would never have guessed that it would take two years to get to the store shelves. The (marketing) company we first approached gave us the impression that it would be a piece a cake,” says Mitchell.

“We really didn’t have the concept of how much time would be involved.”

Through a costly process of trial and error, Natural Fertility looked at a number of different marketing companies to develop a product identity and box.

The first firm chosen, despite an impressive proposal, came up short on product development. The second ended up designing Ovu-Trac’s logo and first retail package, but wasn’t strong enough on the tie-in between design and marketing.

Biggs and Mitchell then approached a consultant and finally found a winner in Edmonton’s Odvod Media.