Today our host Lis McDermott is talking to member Liza van Zyl of Priory Heating Limited. Based in Swindon, Liza runs a small domestic plumbing and heating company that she set up in 2013 and has been in business for 11 years.

Liza talks about what it is like being a female in a very male dominated industry, and why she finds it easy and is very comfortable in her working environment and she is not alone, as there is another female plumber working in Swindon too.

She shares her passion for her business, and also how she likes to ensure she supports her elderly clients, particularly in winter.

Liza also talks about growing up in South Africa, before leaving to work in Holland and then joining the British Army for eight years prior to starting her business.

She has been a member of Businesswise for 5 years, and initially was sceptical about the whole idea, as it wasn’t an environment she’d been in before. Her first visit to a networking group was everything negative that she had expected the experience to be, and didn’t go back. However, when she visited Businesswise, she enjoyed it, and recognising that she’d found the right group for her, joined.

The healthy environment where everyone can communicate with each other freely, whether to celebrate or to commiserate over some negatives – we’re all business people sharing the same types of problems. She also enjoys the other opportunities that Businesswise offers too, which not all networking groups do.

If you’d like to know more about Liza and Businesswise, visit https://businesswise.org.uk/