In what was an extraordinarily challenging year for businesses, entrepreneurs the length and breadth of the UK fought back with a 59% increase in company registrations in 2020.
Instant Offices have analysed Companies House data together with population data to create an Entrepreneurial Index showing which cities had the highest number of new business registrations in relation to their population, and Manchester has come out firmly on top.
The north west’s largest city, Manchester saw a 32% increase in the number of businesses registered in 2020 together with an entrepreneurial index of 34, this being a new company registration for every 34 people living in the city.
Primarily these new businesses were in the online sales and e-commerce, retail, consultancy and finance sectors.
Challenging the ongoing issues surrounding the pandemic and Brexit, Manchester is on track for a strong economic recovery evidenced through the recent quarterly economic survey conducted by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. In a survey of in excess of 300 local businesses it found increased activity in both domestic sales and international trade, showing a rebound in the construction, manufacturing and services sectors.In addition, over half of the businesses surveyed reported plans to increase their headcount in Q3.
The city of Leicester claimed second place in the ranking, followed by London, Nottingham and Bristol.
Nationwide, there was an increase in entrepreneurship in 2020 during what was undoubtedly an uncertain time to be starting a new business.
According to an AXA survey, between 2016 and 2020 entrepreneurship in the UK was driven by redundancy and unemployment with 30% of small businesses founded during this period started by people who were unemployed or who had been made redundant.
With the rise in redundancy rates across the country this set to be a continuing trend with entrepreneurship still on the increase resulting in the registration of 48,350 companies since the beginning of 2021, the majority being in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leicester and Glasgow.
Indeed, research suggests that 20% of adults in the UK plan to launch a business before the end of 2021.
With virtual offices and a broad range of coworking and start-up spaces in Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Belfast, Southampton and across London, BE Offices has been supporting entrepreneurs for more than two decades with flexible workspace solutions to suit every business requirement.
Image credits: coward_lion via iStock & trabantos via iStock
