Entrepreneurs are the life blood of our economy; they are courageous and incredible people so it’s great to learn that a whopping 55.6%* of the North East’s workforce want to set up their own business. There is one problem however, which is that less than 1% step over the line and start their own company each year.
Why is this? Well, the answer is simple. Stepping over the line requires huge amounts of courage and for many this means letting go of what could be perceived to be a comfortable and more predictable and stable existence in employment.
To level up, the North East needs to create more than 25,000 additional businesses, equating to 200,000 additional jobs and £10 billion of additional economic output. This requires more than 6,000 extra people every year to find the courage to take the plunge and start their own business, choosing freedom, excitement and opportunity over stability and predictability – no mean feat.
Within the population of people starting their own business is a group of people who create businesses that grow and accelerate quickly. This group of fast-growing small businesses generate approximately one third of new jobs and additional economic growth and are therefore important drivers of the regional economy.
High Potential Startups was created in 2019 to identify startups with high growth potential and to engage them in a support programme consisting of high impact workshops, coaching and funding. The programme gives people belief in themselves and their idea so they commit to the development of their new business.
Three years on and through what has been one of the most disruptive times, I’m pleased to say that the programme has proved to be a huge success. We were unsure how the pandemic would affect things but what happened was that people seemed to reflect on their lives and what was important to them.
Although it wasn’t perhaps the best time, we saw the number of people applying to the programme with innovative and scalable business ideas vastly increase – the change and disruption to normality caused by the pandemic propelled people to take the leap. In the hardest of times, it was a massive inspiration to see so many people come forward and decide that now was the right time to develop new business ideas that for many had been left on the back burner for several years.
We’ve seen 58 of our participants founded a new business, most of which were created during the pandemic. Although it’s still very early days for many of these, 99 jobs have already been created and several of these businesses have broken £500,000 turnover.
Entrepreneurs are the life blood of our economy, they have chosen freedom, excitement and opportunity over stability and predictability, they are courageous and incredible people and that’s why we are celebrating them and giving them a collective pat on the back.
