A professional women’s support body, which has brought together hundreds of female entrepreneurs locally – and has links across the UK – has been sold by the founder to one of its members.

Forward Ladies was set up by Etta Cohen in 2000 and has been acquired for an undisclosed sum by business growth consultant Grizelda Togobo, who was previously Forward Ladies’ Bradford regional manager.

The organisation has grown from an offshoot of the former regional development agency Yorkshire Forward, where Etta Cohen was business relationship manager, to a commercial operation with a database of more than 13,000 professional women.

Grizelda Togobo believes Forward Ladies complements the activities of her company AWOVI Consulting, which supports businesswomen through consultancy, educational workshops, seminars and speaking engagements.

She has experience of working with large corporations as well as small and medium businesses and the NHS since training as an accountant with professional services firm, Deloitte. Grizelda is also a media commentator and writes on a variety of personal development and business topics for a number of publications.

She plans to use her international experience to boost Forward Ladies’ membership offering to professional women and the organisations that support them.

Grizelda said: “I want to stay true to the original ethos of Forward Ladies, its inclusivity and integrity and to supporting professional women from all walks of life to achieve more than they ever dreamt possible.

“Forward Ladies will be developed to give working women the support, training and access to peer and mentor networks they need to help them progress in their professional lives and build better businesses.

“Forward Ladies is an inclusive organisation for all women, not just those at the very top of their careers.”

Since its launch Forward Ladies has hosted thousands of events, run trade missions to Hong Kong and Brussels, staged networking events in South Africa, Monaco, Milan, Cyprus and Latvia, visited the European Parliament and Westminster and encouraged small business owners to trade with each other. It also organises the annual Women in Business Awards.

The Bradford branch was started in 2005 and licensees now operate under the brand in the North West, London and the Midlands.

“I have listened to what the members have said and we will be complementing our off-line events and training by doing much more online to give busy women access to the network and resources 24/7 so they can fit it in their busy schedules,” added Griselda.

Etta Cohen will take on an ambassadorial role for Forward Ladies, as well as working with charities and as a guest speaker.