Home Jane

Being a girl living alone can have its disadvantages: if something goes wrong and you're not well-versed in the ancient arts of DIY, having a man come in to fix it can be intimidating. Home Jane removes the intimidation by supplying mainly female tradespeople to do the fixing. As a result, Home Jane's client base includes women's refuge centres and vulnerable women who have be re-housed after experiencing domestic violence. The business also runs a series of DIY workshops called Tools for the Terrified, teaching people basic DIY skills so they don't have to pay a tradesperson to come in each time they need to put together a flat-pack wardrobe.

• Targets an under-served market niche
• Diversifying into DIY courses provided an innovative revenue stream