It's great news that more women are starting their own businesses - up this year to 37% from 33% last year. This follows the trend we witnessed at the Business Startup Show where we spoke to a huge number of women planning to launch a business.

What's interesting is the types of businesses these entrepreneurs are planning to open. There's a very clear steretypical slant which may surprise many. Three of the most popular sectors are cleaning, beauty and hairdressing, while pet minders and cake makers also featured highly. However, as well as these the jobs of market traders and self-employed teachers and financial advisers were also popular.

While many of these seem like typical female roles, they are actually also a response to demand. For example, following the popularity of the BBC’s The Great British Bake Off programme an increase in demand for cakes led to a surge in cake businesses. Also, with more and more working mums there has been an inevitable increase in demand for cleaners.