TWO all-female businesses have designs on making the grade in a trade usually dominated by men.

Mother-of-two Hafida Sarachi of Rowan Drive, Wootton Bassett, has launched into the DIY world with new business HandyGirl.

And Fi O'Donoghue and Jane Norbury have set up a women-only painting and decorating firm in north and west Wiltshire.

Mrs Sarachi, 33, set up HandyGirl after her own bad experiences with tradesmen who were unreliable or too expensive.

Her husband Mohsen was often unable to help and so she went out, bought her own tools and set about refurbishing her home, becoming a self-taught expert along the way.

Mrs Sarachi, who previously worked in IT as a technical support consultant, said the idea for the business came from friends.

"After several requests from female friends to set up a business I asked myself why not?','' she said.

"I knew a handful of women who wanted a handy girl and I knew there would be demand because many women and elderly people live alone and might feel uncomfortable about letting men enter their homes.

"Despite the obvious hurdles of breaking into one of the male strongholds, women tend to communicate well with clients and build trust.'' Mrs Sarachi, who added that women tend to clean up after themselves, is also hoping to offer a few hours of free help to elderly people in the town each week and hopes to build up a team of fellow handy girls.

For more information, call Mrs Sarachi on (01793) 855505.

Meanwhile, Inside Out is a complete decorating service that was set up three years ago by Fi O'Donoghue and Jane Norbury and now employs ten women.

Mrs O'Donoghue, from Ford near Chippenham, said: "The ethos behind setting it up was for women who had careers before having children and didn't want to go back to that job.

"What we do, allows them to work within the school hours.

"My business partner started it, by putting an ad in the paper, saying she could turn her hand to anything. She got lots of responses to do painting and it just went from there.

"Once people get over the fact we do it just as well, if not better, than men, everybody thinks it's a good idea.

"A lot of our clients are elderly and like the security of the fact that we are all women."

Inside Out tackles all decorating problems including painting, fitting carpets and making curtains.

Mrs Norbury said: "Fi and I have been able to supply carpets, flooring, upholstery, curtains.

"When people think of interior decorators they think it will be really expensive and get a bit intimidated.

"We will go round to someone's house, have a look and suggest colour schemes. That is part of the service.

"Sometimes people just want to know if their ideas are okay. Most people don't have time to go researching colour schemes."