"In a strange way the recession has been good" Anna Martin, 37, mother to a two-year-old daughter, tells me. But it didn't feel like that at first, when she was made redundant from the role she had held at an events-management company for six years. "It was a bit like a firing squad. Two hundred of us were all put into redundancy at the same time, my whole department. I was seven months pregnant when I was told, eight months when I left. it was very traumatic. But the package they offered was really good, so I decided to take the money."
The payoff enabled her to give herself nine months "maternity leave", then she went into business with her twin sister. "I'd gone to the job centre but there were very few jobs, and I wanted something with flexible hours so I could enjoy my daughter, Elena, as well as work. "What they came up with was Molliemoo, an online business selling organic, ecofriendly baby gift boxes. The sisters work alternate mornings and afternoons. "We fit it around our lives, and our husbands. It's been a learning curve but it's so much more satisfying to know that we're doing it for our own benefit, and we have a much better work-life balance. "They went live last September, and have taken advantage of reduced advertising rates to promote the business. "If we'd tried to do this before the recession our money would have disappeared in the blink of an eye".
