The Women's Organisation

Working mums can't win.

One day a poll will reveal that children of stay-at-home mums perform better at school while the next day a survey will claim children of working mums are the most fulfilled.

According to the Office for National Statistics nearly 60% of women with children under five have a job. And while 19% work full-time the vast majority of working mums, 39% carry out their jobs on a part-time basis.

So what is a working mum to do?

The obvious answer is to work it out for themselves and ignore the rainforest of surveys opposing their view.

Former healthcare professional Ayesha Chowdhury, 32, of Wallasey gave up her office job to set up her Internet based fair trade gift and interior business Sacred Lotus.

She has a five-year-old daughter, Aneesah.

"When I was on maternity leave, I assumed that I would be able to get child care, so was planning to return to work. However, I didn't realise that child care is only available from 8am-6pm.

My job involved some early starts and late finishes, as well as travelling within the UK and occasional over night stays. So returning to work was almost impossible.

My options were limited, so I decided to be a stay at home mum for a few years. During this time, I travelled to Southern Asian with my family, which is where the inspiration for my new business came from. I could see the skill and quality of the crafts and the difference a fair wage can make to the lives of some of the world's poorest people.

As I am self-employed, my hours are fairly flexible. I try and work around any family commitments, although this is not always possible. At the moment I only work part time hours as its early days and the business is still new. Since my daughter started school, it's been much easier. I get the bulk of my work done while she's at school; anything else that needs my attention gets looked at once she asleep.

The system I have developed means that I am able to see my daughter the moment she gets home from school while at the same time I am doing something that I really believe and am incredibly passionate about. But it hasn't been easy.

Having a good business idea is one thing, getting the business off the ground is something else, entirely.

I worked for months on end, finding products, collecting data, doing market research/questionnaires and financial predictions/costs to enable me to put together my Business Plan. Once that was done, I found out that the only place I could approach for funding was Train 2000. The high street banks see new businesses such as mine as too high risk. However, I am determined to make a success of this business and am grateful for the opportunity of using my skills and being able to be there for my family too."

Ayesha's advice for new working mums-to-be:

"Asking family and friends for support, does not mean that you can't cope, it just means you're human!"