Sugar and Branson need not apply: Girls only

Published on Tuesday 1 May 2007 12:09

SHE once rubbed shoulders with the stars as manager of Richard Branson's tropical paradise island and lived a glamorous life marketing one of the UK's top luxury hotel chains. She also nearly made it on to The Apprentice.

Now entrepreneur Roz Colthart is set to pass on some of her business knowledge to female-led fledgling Edinburgh companies when she launches an informal business networking club for women only.

Ms Colthart, 34, of Blackhall, recently ditched her job as head of marketing for the Malmaison Hotel group to launch the Black Essentials website, which sells all-black designer clothes and accessories online.

She is now to head "Girls and Business" - a club that will allow young businesswomen a chance to meet regularly over informal cocktails or coffee and swap tips on running their own companies.

Pitched as "business without the bull ... or the balls", the group will meet on the first Friday of every month and aims to create an informal atmosphere where female entrepreneurs can chat without dealing with the red tape or membership fees of more official women-only events.

Ms Colthart, who worked at Malmaison, which has a branch on The Shore in Leith, for five years and ran Mr Branson's star-studded Necker Island for another five years in the 1990s, set up Black Essentials last month.

She said: "I'd had the idea for a while - black just never seems to go out of fashion. I eventually decided to take the plunge - I just didn't want to be working for someone else anymore."

The former Napier University student and George Watson's pupil said she hoped the club would offer members both support to launch their companies and a chance to expand their network of business contacts.

She added: "It's a forum for girls who want to chat to like-minded girls.

Helen Pugh, who recently quit a full-time job to set up her own photography business, Paper Moon Pictures, which specialises in children's portraiture, said she hoped to get support from the club.

Ms Pugh, 30, from Comely Bank, said: "It should be a good way of mixing business with pleasure and make the whole thing more relaxed."

Ms Colthart, who was shortlisted to appear on this year's series of The Apprentice, but was rejected on the same day that she launched Black Essentials, added: "It's not about trying to get business from each other, more about support."

Graham Bell of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, which hosts its own regular "Women in Business" lunch events, said: "Networking is definitely something that is worth doing for people who are starting out and it is very important for young companies to support each other."

'This club is a bit different'

SARRA Bejaoui, who started up her lifestyle management business a year ago, said the club would give her a chance to meet other young business-women and swap ideas.

Ms Bejaoui, 28, a former project manager from Liberton, said: "When I was starting my business, I went to so many networking events that were quite stuffy. This club is new and a bit different - the members tend to be young women who have had a job for a while and just decide to quit and start their own business."

Her business, Cherry Lifestyle, offers executives a chance to have daily tasks done for them, such as booking a holiday or taking clothes to the dry cleaners.

Useful websites:

Black Essentials

Girls and Business