Hafida is ready to lend a hand (From This Is Wiltshire)

Hafida is ready to lend a hand

10:49am Friday 7th April 2006

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A WOMAN fluent in three languages and with an honours degree in computer science has left her high- flying job to take on the cowboys in the building trade.

Hafida Sarachi had had enough of broken promises from incompetent tradesmen who did lousy work on her own home and decided to do something about it.

So she taught herself the skills which are needed for jobs around the home and was so good at it that friends asked her to do work for them.

This mushroomed and now she has formed her own company HandyGirl and her order book is starting to bulge.

"I spent weeks trying to get people to do work at my home," she said.

"When they arrived, and sometimes they didn't come at all, their work was shoddy and I was given a bill that was outrageous."

Hafida, who has lived in both Algeria and France and now calls Wootton Bassett her home, went out and bought all the tools that are necessary for DIY.

She quit her job as a trilingual consultant in Reading and HandyGirl was born.

Hafida is 33 and a mother of two and has all the support from her husband Mohsen in the project.

"It might be a sexist remark but women communicate better with customers and we are less threatening in the building world.

"I knew there would be a demand for my sort of work because many elderly people live alone and often feel threatened and pressurised by men doing DIY.

"When I have had bad builders in my home I often felt nervous having my children around and wonder what they might have done if I had refused to pay."

The Mayor of Wootton Bassett, Chris Wannell, joined Hafida as she gave leaflets about her services out to people in the centre when she launched her business.

"I think this idea is great," he said. "It's good for the town and I totally support Hafida."

Now that Hafida has become an expert in DIY it means that she can do all the work to her own home and husband Mohsen has time to follow other pursuits.

Hafida can be contacted on 07909 968149 or through her web site www.handygirl.biz

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