“Creativity is at the heart of everything I do. To create change you must think differently.”

Monkey Cups is Ireland’s leading reusable coffee cup and water bottle company and is based at Waterford Airport Industrial Park. The business values and culture are rooted in being a sustainable business that has a positive climate change impact.

The Monkey Cups themselves are barista standard coffee cups made in Waterford, Ireland. Founded and owned by Mailo Power, they began with a brainstorming sketch back in 2018.​ With years of experience in design, hospitality, food and beverage sectors, Mailo was inspired by the growth of the coffee culture and the growing need to provide an alternative to disposable cups for coffee on the go.

“I wanted Monkey Cups & Monkey Bottles to help minimise waste, provide cost savings and promote sustainability. As an organisation, it is important that we live our values, we take steps at every stage of our production and delivery to minimise our impact on the environment.

“Our mission is to help turn the tide on single-use disposable cups and bottles by developing a range of colourful and stylish reusable alternatives.”

Mailo and Monkey Cups have had a long-standing relationship with the Local Enterprise Office, Waterford. From initial guidance, training and mentoring the relationship progressed to Feasibility and Priming Grants which helped develop the moulding of the cup. The team in the LEO assisted Mailo in choosing Waterford companies for moulding and manufacturing.

Mailo has represented Network Waterford at the LEO’s National Women’s Enterprise Day.  She also participated in LEAN training to help reduce time and cost of assembly and found the organisation’s Export programme extremely beneficial.

Monkey Cups recently developed several exciting new collaborations with a number of companies exporting to the UK, USA and the Netherlands. These came because of contacts made during the Local Enterprise Office Waterford’s Export Programme to Northern Ireland and the Netherlands.

“The Export Development Programme has been essential in increasing my knowledge and understanding of the complexities of international trade. The programme was tailor made to deliver a capability building programme designed to challenge and support us in our scaling journey and assisted in developing an Export Plan to maximise our export potential.”

Mailo continues to grow the business, "We launched two new reusable products so far in 2024. A 750ml stainless steel sports bottle and a 340ml Monkey To Go Cup with new magnet slider / lid. We delivered 1,500 custom branded Monkey To Go Cups to Boston Scientific in August. Custom branded products now represent 90.% of our business.

“We will continue to innovate and work with businesses helping them to reduce their use of single-use cups and bottles by providing quality alternatives that people enjoy using time and time again. It’s about behaviour change, from a use-toss culture to refocus on reducing waste and reusing being the norm.

“Creativity is at the heart of everything I do. To create change you must think differently.  I would like to be a part of creating a world where beauty is cleaner and kinder, and for our business to help change the use of single-use plastics in coffee and drinking on the go.”

Local Enterprise Office Waterford is here to help you start a business, expand an existing business or reach new markets. It provides advice, information and supports in starting up or growing your business as part of a network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices across Ireland. 

Contact your Local Enterprise Office Waterford for their latest training programmes and events schedule on www.localenterprise.ie/Waterford or email info@leo.waterfordcouncil.ie for access to all their training support information.

To learn more about Mailo and Monkey Cups, see www.monkeycups.ie