GRADUATE engineer Mrinal Ghosh is 'plumbing' a gap in the home improvement market to make a major career change.

The 38-year-old has given up his white-collar desk job and is donning his overalls to start his own business, MG's Home Works in Blackburn..

Mrinal, a former building society manager, who recently worked in technical support for a telecommunications firm, is delighted to have made the big step.

"I have reached a stage in life where it is important to me that I enjoy what I do for a living," explained Mrinal who has a degree in electrical engineering from the University of South Wales.

He is now offering himself as a painter and decorator, willing to take on small plastering projects, light electrical work, tiling, laying laminate flooring, glazing and fitting kitchens and bedrooms. At the same time, he has enrolled on a plumbing course at the Manchester College of Arts and Technology.

"For 20 years, I have enjoyed taking on DIY projects at home and have acquired various skills that I think I can now market to help people to make improvements to their own homes."

The big impetus for Mrinal to launch his own business came from his accountant wife, Neelam who he met while living and working in London. "After the birth of our daughter Kareena 14 months ago, Neelam wanted to be nearer to her parents in her native Blackburn," he explained. "We came to Blackburn in the summer and now, Neelam is working in Rochdale while I launch MG's Home Works."

Mrinal was helped by Blackburn-based Bootstrap Enterprises, a not-for-profit organisation which provides free help and advice to anyone living in Blackburn and Darwen who wants to go into business.