| Business Gateway

About the business

Celia Hodson set up Hey Girls in 2017, and with Business Gateway’s support behind it, the social enterprise is already racing along. Celia can also count on the help of her daughters Becky and Kate, with whom she formally launched the enterprise in January 2018.

Hey Girls tackles the issue of period poverty with a buy-one-give-one sanitary pad business model. Every time someone buys a pack of its environmentally friendly pads, Hey Girls donates another pack to a girl or young woman from a low-income family.

“Girls and young women should never have to compromise their well-being, or skip school or PE because they are having their period,” says Celia. “That is why we launched Hey Girls.”

Our Business Gateway adviser was a great support when we started and is now guiding us through the growth process.

How Business Gateway has helped

Celia knew she’d need support with the finer details both to start up and grow the social enterprise successfully. Business Gateway not only helped Celia to tick off the essentials to get up and running, but also connected her to other sources of help. Our support continues as Celia grows Hey Girls.

“Although we understood how we wanted to address this serious issue, we knew that we would need some additional business advice,” explains Celia. “Our Business Gateway adviser was a great support when we started and is now guiding us through the growth process.

“His advice on business planning and marketing was crucial to our development. He also opened doors to additional support and identified a possible source of funding from East Lothian Council.”