Business group for women celebrates 'successful' first year

A Somerset group offering support for local women running their own businesses is celebrating a "successful" first year.

The Wellington Women in Business (WWB) was set up in 2023 by female entrepreneurs wanting to give support to like-minded people.

Although the founders each have their own independent businesses, they realised that they were all experiencing similar challenges and so wanted to help others.

One of the founders, Marion Vincent, said business owners need to "come together to boost each other".

Ms Vincent runs Growing Minds, an outdoor learning group for children in Wellington.

"I'm not a born business woman, but I've really loved learning how to market and promote myself, and how to attract my audience," she added.

"It's challenging out there at the moment, there are businesses closing left, right and centre. I think, now, more than ever, we all need to come together and boost each other."

Another founder of the group, Zoe Old, owns a beauty clinic in Wellington called Pamper You by Zoe.

"We have been absolutely blown away by how fantastically well this first year has gone," she said.

"It's been great to discover more about the wonderful women in Wellington. We've got such a wealth of talent in our town, and the comradery that we've all brought to the table has been wonderful.

"We saw a real gap in the community where we felt we could bring everybody together and grow our little businesses organically."