She’s spent nearly two decades travelling around the UK with high-flying corporate HR jobs, but now Deborah Witcomb set up her own business.

The 45-year-old HR practitioner started the HR Dept to provide outsourced HR advice and support for SMEs in Southampton, Eastleigh, Chandlers Ford, Romsey, Totton and Waterside.

At present the new company is based at Deborah's home in Totton but she hopes to have offices within the year.

She said: “I’m really confident about the potential for the business and I’m determined and driven to make sure it works. The HR Dept is a proven model which works across the UK, it’s a great brand with a lot of credibility, so people know the name and recognise the quality that comes with it.

“The vision is to move to an enterprise park within the next year, hire an administrator as soon as possible so that I can grow the business, then take on a member of staff each year going forward.”

It’s been a difficult five years for Mrs Witcomb, whose husband Roy suffered health problems and was unable to work until recently. Combined with the uncertainty of corporate contracts, she said it has been a stressful time.

“There had been a period when we relied solely upon my income,” she said. “Combined with the constant threat of redundancy, it’s been really stressful. So it’s great to be in control of my own business now and I’m excited to get started."

Having spent the last two years working for Hampshire law firms, Mrs Witcomb said she realised how much she longed to spend more time closer to home, with Roy and her 18-year-old daughter Charlotte.

“Because I’ve been working predominantly with these larger organisations,” she said, “I’ve been living mainly out of hotel rooms for almost 20 years.

“It’s been Bristol, Devon, North Yorkshire, Plymouth, Cheltenham, Aldershot – all parts of the UK really – but I grew up in the New Forest and it’s great to know I’m going to spend more time here.”

To get to know the local business community better, Mrs Witcomb is planning a major assault on the Hampshire networking circuit.

“My business development adviser wants me to visit between 75 and 100 networking events in the next three months,” she said. “So I’m going to have to work at it! A big part of growing a start-up is getting yourself seen and known, so I recognise how important this will be.”

The HR Dept is a national franchise chain of 63 licensees running independent HR businesses in 85 territories around the UK.