IF RAISING a young family wasn’t time-consuming enough, two sisters have also started up their own business, thanks to the Prince’s Trust.

Sarah Bohane, 26, was unemployed for several years and had no business experience when she and her sister Michelle Dacey approached The Prince’s Trust for help to set up their own book-keeping business.

The pair took a home learning course in book-keeping, and signed up to take part in a four-day course, run by The Prince’s Trust ,which teaches the essential skills of running a business.

They decided to set up Opal UK Book-keeping, and applied for a Prince’s Trust start-up loan and business mentor.

Today, Opal UK Book-keeping is a thriving business, and Sarah, of Lawn, and Michelle, of Gorse Hill, are building up their client-base.

“I’m really proud of what we have achieved so far and am looking forward to seeing the business grow,” said Sarah.

“Thanks to the trust, we’re now doing something really positive and are able to set a great example to our children.”

The sisters were both born in Swindon and have lived here all their lives. They attended St Joseph’s Catholic College where they both obtained nine GSCEs.

Michelle 28, continued into the sixth form where she gained a GNVQ in health & social care.

“I went on to work in administration where I gained a NVQ level 3 qualification in admin,” she said.

She now has children aged six and four.

“After having my second child I did not return to work due to the fact that it is hard to find a job with the flexibility when having children and when they do come up there is a lot of competition.

“I decided that I wanted to gain further qualifications in order to set up my own business and with having previous experience in administration, book-keeping was the best option.”

Sarah, who has children aged eight and five, studied beauty therapy and also worked in customer services.

“The two of us studied at home and have gained an ICB qualification level one manual book-keeping and level two computerised book-keeping,” she said.

“After approaching the Prince’s Trust I went on their business enterprise course, we were interviewed by a panel, which is run by successful business people who decide if your plan is viable, and they made the decision to provide us with a start-up fund and a mentor for the next two years.

“The trust made us look at setting up a business completely differently and the support that we get is absolutely brilliant.

“Our next step is to obtain customers within Swindon in order to build a successful business.”

For information on the business visit www.swindon -bookkeepers.co.uk, call 07513 204934 or email mail@opalukbookkeeping.co.uk. For details on the Prince’s Trust call 01179 292 300.