Entrepreneurs are launching new ventures despite the economic gloom.

Anita Brightley-Hodges, from Ditton, is hoping her new charity will encourage businesses to give something back to society, even in these difficult times.

Mrs Brightley-Hodges 50, has just launched My Ten Days, a charity which helps communities both in the UK and abroad by encouraging small businesses to donate paid leave to employees for charitable work.

She is working alongside daughter Amalia , 22, a former Maidstone Girls Grammar School pupil also from Ditton,

Mrs Brightley-Hodges, who runs a design agency and also lectures at the University of Creative Arts in Maidstone, said she had wanted to do something positive, “at a time when every headline is full of doom and gloom and life just seems to be about keeping your head above water.”

My Ten Days encourages owners of small firms to allow one employee 10 days’ paid leave in order to volunteer or fund raise for the charity of their choice, whether at home or abroad.

Employees can register on the My Ten Days website, www.mytendays.org.

Others launching a new venture are cafe owner Maggie Doyle and business partner Sophie Durrant.

They are hoping to sweeten the economic gloom with the launch of their new food company, Blue Artichoke Food.

The pair, who work in Maggie’s Cafe in Week Street, Maidstone, are making and selling home baked cakes, fudges, biscuits and ready meals. As much as possible, ingredients will be sourced locally.

Miss Durrant, 25, said: “We are planning to sell the food at local farmers’ markets and to local businesses across Kent and Sussex.”