Rachel Elnaugh's Challenge

Rachel Elnaugh, one of the UK's best-known businesswomen and star of the BBC's Dragons' Den, is on the hunt for an entrepreneur in Swindon to take the challenge of launching and running a new, on-line web-based directory and information resource for local people. Swindon has been selected with four other towns in the south for the launch. The new website is a franchise operation for local people and run by local people. It is called Yourhomepagein.co.uk.and will provide essential information about local businesses and services. It sits as a home page on your PC, giving information on local news, the weather, local events, local restaurants etc - any and all information that is relevant to the local community. All that is required is someone to run it. Rachel said: "For it to succeed requires the passion of a local entrepreneur committed to his or her local community, who is not afraid of hard work and who wants to be well rewarded for the effort put in.

"That person could be anyone who wants to work for themselves, to be their own boss, and make good returns, while providing a service that supports local businesses and the local economy."

The launch, which reflects Rachel's ambition to encourage more people to run their own businesses, also comes at a time of a backlash against many of the out-of-town retail parks across several centres in the UK as local people fight to bring back their local High Street.

Yourhomepagein is not only an exciting opportunity for the local entrepreneur with the vision to carry it forward, but also all of the local businesses, traders and restaurants that take part.

How Yourhomepagein works is simple. An individual buys the franchise opportunity for a one-off investment of £7,000 for which they receive everything they need to get started, from sales and marketing materials through to the technical training required to run the site.

The template for Yourhomepagein is already designed and constructed, and a list of 1,500 names of local businesses is provided from which they can build.

Businesses have free listings but are invited to add further information and detail to their entry at a nominal weekly charge to give them additional prominence. Local charities and support groups are also given free listings.

"To every new business venture there is a risk, but it is unusual to find such an opportunity where the cost of entry is comparatively low and the risk minimal," said Rachel.

Mike English, the man who first came up with the idea for Yourhomepagein is equally excited about the launch.

"Yourhomepagein is good news for the local entrepreneur who seizes the opportunity but also for every local business and trader who gets involved," he said.

Rachel Elnaugh will be a speaker at the National Franchise Exhibition in October at the NEC, Birmingham.

Anyone interested in the opportunity should log on to www.Yourhomepagein.co.uk.