Have you ever had a plumber or electrician come into your home and put their muddy feet everywhere and not clean up after themselves? And as a woman, how safe do you feel knowing that a male stranger is in your home and you don’t know anything about him? You end up with a filthy house and/or you feel vulnerable in your own home.

Targeting women customers, property maintenance and building service in the UK called A Woman’s Touch is offering plumbing, decorating, tiling, plastering, electrical work and carpentry services carried out by a team of female tradespeople who are highly qualified, reliable and courteous.

By women carrying out the work, the need for safety and respect for other peoples’ property is met.

Founded by Kerrie Keeling, she decided to move from the corporate banking world to start up her own company. A Woman’s Touch is now turning over GBP 1.2 million and is ready to be franchised. This company is certainly shaking things up a bit by taking on an industry that is traditionally a predominantly male profession.

This is a good business opportunity either as a start up or to partner with A Woman’s Touch to franchise the organization in other countries.

Watch the video about “A Woman’s Touch” below. The image link will take you to another website which the video will play a QuickTime movie. You will need the QuickTime media player to be able to view this.

In Auckland, New Zealand, Greg and Sue Sweeney won the 2007 Westpac Enterprise North Shore business excellence awards with their wool-based thermal insulation product called Eco Insulation.

Started in the couple’s dining room, Eco Insulation keeps houses warm in winter, cool in summer and reduces noise and dampness in the home. It is a product that overall helps fight global warming as it assists in reducing the amount of energy required to warm or cool a house.

Eco Insulation has supplied insulation to more than 12,000 homes in New Zealand, including 7000 Housing New Zealand units, saving many millions of kilowatt hours of energy.

These wool-based insulation products are for both home and commercial buildings using excess fibre from the manufacture of woolen carpets.

Launched in the late 1990’s, the business struggled for the first 2 years which forced Mr Sweeney back into teaching until sales picked up. However, Eco Insulation is booming and has recently moved into new premises to accommodate growing staff and product. It’s pricing is quite competitive since it purchases the excess wool fibre from carpet manufacturers.

Mr Sweeney says “wool is a natural insulator, non-toxic, sustainable, recyclable and draws moisture from living spaces.” The idea was born when the Sweeneys were blowing loose wool fibre into lofts to form a bed of insulation above the ceiling of a spare room. They realized this approach was not suitable and that is when Mr Sweeney approached a textile manufacturer with the idea of turning loose wool fibres into thick thermal blankets.

Eco Insulation sells its product both in New Zealand and internationally. This is a great opportunity for international businesses who wish to partner with Eco Insulation or resell their products. Since sustainable environmentally friendly products are part of a growth industry, Eco Insulation is an excellent product to consider.

Have you ever had a yearning to invest in property or buy a beach house but can’t quite afford it? What about other exciting toys out of your budget range such as a boat, car or aircraft?

If you don’t mind sharing with others, then all this is within your reach through websites such as Yours2Share.com and HalfShare.com where a matchmaking service is provided to people who would like to participate in fractional ownership or renting of property. It enables the benefit of ownership but at a much lower cost.

One of the major benefits of ownership, especially with ownership of property, investors gains capital gains growth and an opportunity to generate rental income.

Similar to an online dating service, buyers are matched based on their interests, tastes, backgrounds and hobbies. The sites also enable potential co-owners to meet one another in person, by phone or online.

So how do these types of sites make money?

• Real estate people find new ways of selling property under their existing industry revenue models and the co-owner match maker service is free of charge
• Non-realestate companies could offer a membership service for a small monthly or annual fee.
• Alternatively, the service could be provided for free and funded through advertising.

An opportunity exists to create similar fractional ownership or renting match making services in other regions around the world.