Cindy Goh-Cabral | Women of Power 2024

A profound distaste for trend-based disposable culture underpins the creative and engineering processes driving Singapore-based Oribel’s award-winning premium baby gear. “Products should be intelligently conceived and solidly engineered, and the design should be timeless,” states company founder Cindy Goh-Cabral.

Cindy’s deep dive into reinventing baby gear started after she became a parent in 2005 and realised how the baby gear market lacked sustainably designed products. A finance graduate who switched to engineering after joining Meiban Global, her family’s plastic manufacturing business, Cindy began leveraging the company’s capabilities to prototype her vision of aesthetically-pleasing, multifunctional baby gear.

In an industry replete with copycat and short-lived products, Oribel’s baby gear, designed to adapt to different uses as babies grow, is a much-needed innovation. PortaPlay, an award-winning infant activity centre, is convertible to a play table for children up to five years old. Another popular offering, an adjustable baby feeding chair, doubles as a lounger for newborns.

Safety and sustainability are high on the list too, with products meeting and even exceeding required standards in developed economies, including the US, Europe and Japan. Toys are made of FDA food grade resin and the company has recently switched to eco-friendly packaging printed with soy ink. The products are also designed to blend in with the aesthetics of a modern home. “‘Ori’ is derived from the word ‘original’, and ‘Bel’ from ‘belle’, or ‘beautiful’”, Cindy elucidates. “For us, every product must bring critical innovation or pioneer a new product category in the baby gear industry, with the aim of elevating the parenting journey.”

Met with scepticism when Oribel first marketed to the US market in 2015, the company now sells in over 30 countries, with more innovative projects in the works. “I have a restless and curious mind, especially when it comes to engineering,” admits Cindy, who has multiple patents to her name. “I want Oribel to be known for its innovation. To me, durable products made for multiple uses embody sustainability in its the truest form.”

Photography MICKY WONG; Art Direction AUDREY CHAN; Fashion Styling JACQUIE ANG; Clothes, Jewellery & Watches LOUIS VUITTON; Hair KENNETH ONG; Make-up RINA SIM

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