For Romi Haan, necessity was the mother of invention. She hated cleaning hard Korean floors on her hands and knees so she devised a mop to take the pain out of the chore.
This salvation came in the form of a normal mop adapted with a small water tank and a heating element that generated steam to spray on the floor.
It worked so well that she decided to market it.
Today, the steam-mop is the cornerstone of the Haan Corporation, which she set up and now runs. It has 80 employees and an annual turnover of about $120m (£77m).
It was, she says, a woman’s answer to a woman’s problem.
“In Korea, one of the most hated household chores is cleaning the floor,” she says.
“Most housewives had to be on their hands and knees cleaning the floor every day, including myself, so I figured I would have to solve this problem. I would have to liberate Korean housewives from this chore.”
http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-32833816/the-south-korean-woman-who-invented-the-steam-mop