stevenage is 2nd

Development Board praises Stevenage second best ranking as place to start a business in the UK outside London

Stevenage Development Board has welcomed a study which ranks the hi-tech hub as the second best town to start a small business outside London.

The board was established in March 2020 to deploy government funding through the town investment fund, and Adrian Hawkins OBE, Board chairman and Chairman of biz4Biz, an organisation that supports business development, said “We have clear plans for the future growth and development of Stevenage and this study highlights the opportunities available to people in our area.

“Following our successful £37.6m Towns Fund bid earlier this year, and the range of projects that

are being delivered in the ongoing regeneration programme, we now have real momentum going forward over the coming years.”

The research, conducted by Tide found that the town – more renowned for global businesses like Airbus, GsK and MBDA – ranks behind only Bournemouth in the best locations for entrepreneurs to set up shop.

The study combined data on a number of factors including the rise in the number of start-ups, the five-year start-up survival rate, and the number of registered businesses as a percentage of the town’s population, to reveal the best UK towns and cities to launch a business.

Stevenage was ranked second while other local towns including Watford finished third. Stevenage features in the top seven towns and cities for each ranking factor, the highest-ranking aspect being the number of registered businesses, which accounts for 0.59% of the population. On top of this, there is a 45.54% fiveyear survival rate for start-ups in the town, and there was a 26.7% rise in new businesses between 2018 and 2019.

Cllr Sharon Taylor OBE, Leader of Stevenage Borough Council said: “We were delighted to hear such amazing news and hope that this acts as a platform to drive even more businesses and creative, driven individuals to our town as well as more opportunities and jobs for our local communities. Our regeneration programme is delivering more flexible working and conference space with every project we complete and by providing more of these facilities we can open up the opportunity for even more organisations to flourish in Stevenage.”

Lloyd Briscoe, Executive Member for Economy, Enterprise and Transport at Stevenage Borough Council said: “We know that there are numerous SMEs, freelancers and other small businesses based here and that number grows every year so it’s fantastic to see this entrepreneurial spirit outlined so clearly in this study. Stevenage has always provided a platform for growth and you can see from the numerous major businesses based here that there is clearly room for expansion and success within our town.”

Ed Jordan, CEO at Wenta said: “We’ve been helping business owners of all shapes and sizes since 1983 and, during this time, have supported more than 110,000 people to start-up, maintain or grow their own business. Over the past year in Stevenage alone, we have supported over 169 businesses to help them survive the pandemic, helped 28 local residents to start-up their own business and given away more than £13,000 in start-up grants. It’s of no surprise that Stevenage is in the top 3 most attractive towns to launch a new business as we have the infrastructure here in place to both encourage and support enterprise.”

Stevenage resident, Lee Robbins started his own business (BI Data Intelligence Limited) in June 2019 with help from Wenta. Lee said: “By the summer of 2019, I realised I needed to find more appropriate office space to enable me to grow my own business and that’s when I came across Wenta. Alex is one of the business advisors at the btc, and she gave me invaluable advice on office space, training schemes and funding opportunities for businesses just like mine. Working in the btc’s incubator with other people in a similar situation to me was also invaluable, the shared experiences.”

Wenta is an independent, not-for-profit, social enterprise that exists to make it easier and simpler to start and run a successful business. Since 2009, Wenta have been working in partnership with Stevenage Borough Council providing free one-to-one business advice, skills training and affordable workspace (at The Business & Technology Centre on Bessemer Drive) to residents and business owners across the Stevenage area. Anyone in the Stevenage area can access Wenta’s free business support services which are independent and tailored to individual needs.