SWINDON businesswoman Hilary Coates has won a national award for her work as a franchisee, just a year after setting up shop in the town.

Hilary was named New Woman Franchisee of the Year at the 2015 EWIF (Encouraging Women Into Franchising) Awards earlier this month, at a ceremony in London.

Since launching her Wagging Tails franchise in April 2014, Hilary enjoyed great success and has built a thriving business offering dog owners in the area an alternative to kennels.

With her business, Hilary gives dogs a holiday of their own, staying in the home of specially selected dog carers.

The 51-year-old beat of stiff competition from a McDonald's franchisee in the same category as her.

"I am absolutely over the moon," she said. "It has been a lot of hard work and I would like to thank my wonderful owners and carers for helping me to make my business so successful.

"Being selected ahead of a brand of the stature of McDonald's is a real honour and I am incredibly proud to have won this award."

Richard Davies of category sponsor, Making Money magazine, said: "Not only has Hilary successfully developed her own thriving local business, but she has given a huge amount back to her franchisor by getting involved with the training of new franchisees and providing support in the development of the network.

"Hilary is a worthy winner of this award and an example of how the relationship between franchisee and franchisor should work."

EWIF is a not-for-profit organisation run entirely by volunteers. EWIF's primary focus is to support women who are looking for a route into the franchise industry by providing advice and guidance to these people.

Commenting on their involvement with the awards, Andrew Taylor, head of leisure, retail and franchising at headline sponsor NatWest, said: "We are delighted to continue our support for the EWIF awards and congratulate all the winners on their success.

"The awards provide a great opportunity to recognise and celebrate the work of women in the UK franchising industry.

"The professionalism and achievements of all the winners and nominees are inspiring and they are great role models for other women thinking about breaking into the industry."

The awards took place at RBS House, London, in front of guests from across the world of franchising, including sponsors McDonald's, Making Money, NatWest, Busibricks, Franchise Finance, Elite Franchise, No+Vello and The Franchise Show, to honour those women forging successful businesses in this industry.