A GROWING organisation in Bolton is providing a lively new platform for young Asian entrepreneurs.

About 40 business people -- mostly aged between 20 and 30 -- are involved in the eWEDNESDAYS group, which was formed just over a year ago.

Chairman Yaseer Ahmed, a 25-year-old partner in Derby Firelec, in Derby Street, said: "This group is certainly going places."

Members meet on the first Wednesday of every month and the focus is on e-commerce -- either promoting businesses or selling over the internet.

And the group has grown rapidly since it was set up with eight members.

Mr Ahmed said the members, mostly Bolton-born, enjoy networking and sharing useful information and contacts.

The organisation is run in partnership with Sikander Badat and his team at the award-winning Ethnic Minorities Business Service (EMBS) run by Bolton Council.

Meetings are held at the EMBS offices in Washington Street.

Members include shopkeepers, textile manufacturers, marketing consultants, web designers, IT experts and an architect.

Meetings cover various aspects of business, including overseas trade and patents.

But it is not all work. The group also runs regular social activities, including meals out, football and Thai boxing.

The group is conc entrating its charity efforts on raising money for the Royal Bolton Hospital's Coronary Care Appeal.

Mr Ahmed believes this sector is growing in Bolton and becoming a significant factor in the economy of the town.

The organisation's website is www.ewednesdays.org, and anybody interested in joining can contact Yaseer Ahmed on 07887 834 572.

The future's orange

BROTHERS David and Suresh Patel are squeezing out a profit.

David, aged 30, and Suresh, aged 26, run GNO juices in Nile Street, Bolton.

They are members of the e-WEDNESDAYS group and find the meetings -- and the contacts they have made -- very useful.

David already runs a newsagent's business and Suresh has an off-licence, but they wanted to do something else on their days off.

They buy oranges and squeeze them to fill containers with juice, which they then sell to milkmen and wholesalers.

"It is doing all right, but it could do a lot better," said David, who went to Hayward High School, while his brother went to Westhoughton High.