Big news out of the UK: rural areas are starting up more businesses and outpacing urban areas.
Four different news sources picked up this story on the report from Barclays Local Business.
What led to this boom in rural business?
From the London Stock Exchange:
“Amongst the fastest growing start-up locations, more than half are mainly rural or are towns that serve a rural economy.” This growth could be attributed to the number of local people establishing businesses to serve the community, or the arrival of more “down shifters” from urban areas.
Are there any common factors in the booming rural areas?
From Easier Business:
“…the top four are all in areas of outstanding natural beauty which are not only attracting locally grown businesses, but people moving to the area who might be using teleworking to run a consultancy, or have decided to run a tourism business such as bed and breakfast. What is certainly true is that if a place is desirable to live in, business will follow.”
So, is this a real trend, or is it just a fluke?
From IC Wales:
“Out of the fastest growing start-up locations across the UK, you could certainly argue that many are largely rural or in towns that serve a rural hinterland. Therefore it seems less likely that this is a pure accident and is more likely caused by a genuine growth in businesses moving away from urban areas.”
How are women entrepreneurs doing?
From Finance Daily:
Officials are also encouraged by the 12 per cent rise in the number of businesses started by women. Nearly 27 per cent of all new business last year were created by women.
[Photo of UK small town small business by joshuaone6to9 via Flickr.]
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Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.
