Businesses boom during lockdown

MORE START-UPS IN COUNTY - 6,385 - THAN PREVIOUS YEAR

DESPITE 2020’s troubles, more businesses were created in Leicestershire this year than any other in the past decade.

With the changing world of work and the pandemic pushing more people to self-employment, a total of 6,385 businesses were registered in the area, compared with just over 5,000 in 2019.

The Leicester area has always been a leader in the region for new start-ups and while Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire also had more new businesses than last year, they were well behind Leicestershire.

Derbyshire recorded 2,043 new companies and Nottinghamshire 4,169.

Esme Nicholson is one of many people her age starting out in business because of the way the world of work is changing.

She tried her hand as an employee but found there was not much money in it and that for all the headaches of running her own business, it made more sense.

Her company, Lulu Dog Services, is in Greenhill Road, in Knighton, Leicester.

Esme, 22, who attended Sir Jonathan North College in Leicester then studied at Brooksby Melton College, said: “I started my business in March but lockdown meant I couldn’t actually do it.

“After I finished my course I’d started working for someone else but it wasn’t enough to live on so I decided to set up on my own.

“There were a lot of roadblocks with getting permissions for things from councils – I had hoped to open a shop at Stoughton Grange but there were problems about that so I got a place in Greenhill Road in Leicester.

“It’s a leap, but lots of people are being pushed towards it because of the state of things.”

She said one of her friends had recently set up a bag-making company, while another had a catering business.

Another set up a cake-making business after losing her job in the catering industry because of the pandemic.

Esme was helped out in starting with a £9,000 interest-free loan from the Sir Thomas White Loan Charity, which helps young people with good business ideas.

She said: “I couldn’t have done it otherwise.”

Talent innovation company SHL analysed start-ups data from Companies House, which showed Leicestershire had the biggest number of new businesses and the highest year-onyear increase in numbers in the East Midlands.

The biggest sectors were the wholesale trade and printing.

An SHL spokesman said: “With

I was working for someone but it wasn’t enough to live on so I set up on my own

1.3 million people on furlough from the end of March – rising to 9.6 million by August – and a historically difficult job market, people were busy creating their own opportunities.

“In June, when the furlough scheme had its first extension, new business creation started to boom.

“Overall, 2020 has been the year most new businesses have been created.

“There were 6,385 new businesses in total, 1,363 more than in 2019, which is an increase of 27 per cent.”

Esme Nicholson, pictured