We've all heard about the glass ceiling that women must push through to gain senior management roles, but we hear less about those who have taken matters into their own hands and gone it alone.

A study of the young women running New Zealand's small businesses has revealed them to be ambitious self-starters, with young and dynamic enterprises that they're eager to grow.

One young self-starter lives here in the Bay of Plenty and is thriving with her business Real Rad Food.

Hannah Mellsopp, is in her early 20's and has already cracked the wholesale and online market. She says it has been a pretty crazy few years ever since making Real Rad Food an official brand in 2016 and it has only gone up hill from there.

Hannah says she hasn't quite defined success within her business yet, but when you look back on how far the business has grown, you could say that it is successful.

'I guess when I look back on the past year, success to me is where we have come in the past year, like the amount of growth that we have been able to achieve and I guess the main part of that would be the support we've had from our wholesale clients and our online customers.

'I guess it is success because of the returning customers and our growing stockist list.”

Real Rad Food started off by having nine stockists and have grown to around 45 in the space of a year.

Hannah got the idea of running her own business when she was working part-time in a café while studying at university.

She got into healthy foods and healthy treats and started to share her creations on social media.

Hannah says social media was a big contributing factor in starting her business.

She started experimenting and sharing more on social media. People found her Instagram page and wanted to buy what she was making.

'I finished my degree and decided that I wanted to give what I had going a real go, and that meant me going all in,” says Hannah.

'I was going to local markets, trying to push the wholesale to cafes idea and I think it was great because I had an audience there already before I started, so that meant that starting wasn't as scary.

'I knew that there was a demand so I sort of tested the market before I entered it.

'I don't think my business would exist without Instagram or social media.”

The research, commissioned by Xero, found 86 percent of women got their business off the ground under their own stream, funding it themselves, with the help of family and friends or with no financial support.

More than a third have made a personal sacrifice by going without paying themselves at times when cash has been tight. But 69 percent now have their eyes set on growing their profitability in 2019, making this one of their main business goals.

Hannah says she has had lots of help from her friends and family over the years.

'My partner has pretty much been working for me for a year, free of charge. My younger siblings have been rolling the raw balls that we do with me. My older brother is an accountant, and he's helped me.

'I don't think I would have been able to do it without the support of my friends and family.”

To check out more about Real Rad Food, visit their website: https://realradfood.co.nz/