Over-60s bitten by the business bug

Nearly 10,000 (9,381) businesses have been set up by entrepreneurs over the age of 60 in the past 12 months, with 11 founders in 2019 being over the age of 90, according to the latest Companies House statistical research carried out by Countingup.

The analysis also found that the average age of the UK Entrepreneur in 2019 is 40 years old, despite research earlier in the year revealing that 41% of generation Z-ers plan to be entrepreneurs.

And, while the name David may typically be associated with famous actors such as David Tennant or David Schwimmer, in the UK it is the most entrepreneurial name with 3,839 Davids setting up businesses this year.

Michael was listed the second most enterprising name with 3,235 businesses created while James came third, with 2,747 budding namesake entrepreneurs launching start-ups in 2019.

Andrew was the fourth most popular followed by Paul (fifth), Christopher (sixth), Daniel (seventh), Mark (eighth), John (ninth) and Richard (10th).

It might not come as a surprise that Smith was by far the most popular surname name for entrepreneurs in the UK, with 946 new businesses being registered under that name this year. Khan was third most popular with that surname taking responsibility for 374 new businesses in 2019.

Tim Fouracre, CEO at Countingup, the UK’s No 1 banking and accounting app for freelancers and small businesses, said: “We are a nation of entrepreneurs and it’s pleasing to see that more than 600,000 businesses have already been set up in 2019.

“The older entrepreneurs are a group that is often overlooked with much of a focus on generation-Z currently. These two generations are perfectly suited to complement each other in business, so the idea of new concepts like an ‘apprentice CEO’ shouldn’t be dismissed, combining experience with new ways of thinking.”

The study also found that buying, selling and letting of property accounted for 3,433 businesses being set up in July (6%), followed by 1,569 (3%) hairdressing and wellbeing-focused start-ups setting up in the same timeframe.

Freight transport by road firms contributed to 2% of new firms while take-away food shops contributed to just more than 1%. In terms of when businesses are most likely to be set up during the year, over the past 12 months, more firms were set up in March 2019 than at any other time, with 63,000 start-ups launching, with July this year and October 2018 seeing the next most of 56,000.

This was a contrast to December, when just 38,000 businesses were registered. Interestingly, 5,000 fewer companies were created in July this year compared to 2018 as difficult trading conditions and economic uncertainty continues.

Fouracre, who created Countingup

– a venture-capital-backed company – in September 2017, added: “We are seeing many new start-ups really begin to take advantage of smallbusiness-focused organisations such as Countingup to help them with funding and accounting needs, allowing them to spend more of their time on doing what makes them money.”

www.countingup.com

Research shows over 600,000 businesses have been set up across the UK so far in 2019.