It has been a bleak couple of years with a double dip recession, welfare cuts and high unemployment but new figures show Manchester is on the road to recovery.
The city has been highlighted as a business hotspot after research revealed a record number of new businesses were launched in 2013.
Figures released by Startup Britain showed that Manchester had the third highest number of business start-ups in the country, after Greater London and Birmingham.
A spokeswoman for StartUp Britain told MM: “Manchester is the entrepreneurial hot-spot of the north.
“But Birmingham is a massive area and a lot of work has been done to resource and encourage start-ups.
“We are seeing signs of a thriving start-up scene which is becoming really competitive, whereas in Manchester there is room for a bit more encouragement.”
The study revealed that Manchester entrepreneurs created 11,765 new businesses in the last year – a record number.
The research also showed that a total of 526,446 businesses were registered with Companies House in 2013, beating the 484,224 recorded in 2012, and 440,600 in 2011.
This went toward helping the struggling economy which, in the last year, has grown by 1.9% – the fastest growth since 2007.
In a speech to the Federation of Small Businesses, Prime minister David Cameron said: “Supporting business is a crucial part of our long term economic plan, creating jobs and security for all.
“This will make it easier for you to grow, to create jobs and to help give this country the long-term security we are working towards.”
The Tory leader also alluded to the fact that micro and small businesses represent 95% of all companies and employ more than seven million people in the UK.
Emma Jones, co-founder of StartUp Britain said: “We’ve been looking at these figures carefully for three years since the campaign began and it’s clear the UK’s start-up community is growing year-on-year.
“These figures are raw and hot off the press but the new regional statistics reveal a power house in the South East and London – which is what we were expecting – but there are also impressive pockets of entrepreneurial activity in the North West, South Yorkshire, the Midlands and Scotland.”
Manchester has become the UK’s second city in most people minds but these figures show that Birmingham isn’t letting go of that number two spot yet.
Image courtesy of Alexander ,with thanks
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