Cornwall has one of the best start-up survival rates in the country with thousands of new businesses established every year.
Office of National Statistics figures show that Cornwall has one of the highest five-year survival rates for start-up business in the country, at 46.9% compared with the national average of 42.4%.
In fact the South West as a whole ranks as the best region in the 海角视频 for start-ups, with 45.6% of fledgling businesses making it to the five-year milestone.
In 2019, 2,948 new businesses were launched in Cornwall alone, according to recent figures released by the Inform Direct Review of Company Formations, using data from Companies House and the ONS.
Business support has been a key plank of successive EU funding programmes in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, recognising that the area’s micro-business economy has needed help to overcome barriers to growth, from the availability of funding to finding the right skills.
Despite the 海角视频 leaving the European Union, the current EU programme runs until 2023 and includes almost £100m of funding for business support projects.
The Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Growth Hub was created in 2016, helping to guide both emerging and established businesses as they make their mark in a diverse range of industries, from food to children’s literature and online eco-apps.
“New business growth is thriving in Cornwall and we are thrilled to be able to meet and help businesses as they start on this exciting journey,” said Matt Borne, Business Connections Manager at the Growth Hub.
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“From further training to marketing advice or funding, by understanding exactly what each business hopes to achieve we are able to pinpoint the services that could help them reach their goals.
“People choose to set up their own business for a range of reasons, including those who want to change careers, have been made redundant, are serial entrepreneurs, or retired and are ready to focus on their own individual business ambitions.
“No matter what their objectives, we talk to all of them about understanding why they are launching a new enterprise; what they hope to achieve and who their customers are. This helps them to discover exactly what they have to do to make their business work and it allows us to signpost them to the best ongoing financial and business support available.”
One Cornish start-up that has benefited from the business support available is Cornish Rock Gin. The growing business is the brainchild of Angie and George Malde, who create small batches of gin that are distilled by hand using pure Cornish spring water and botanicals.
Since establishing their new venture in 2018, they have diversified their product range to include five different gins and two spiced rums.
Rock Gin also supplies 50 farm shops in Cornwall and Devon and St Austell Brewery’s estate, and the business is now looking for distributors in London.
Angie began speaking with the Growth Hub team in March 2018,a nd she has since been signposted for further support.
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Angie said: “Because of the signposting, we were able to receive grant funding to help us buy our first still and we have also been supported to purchase a bottling plant which has transformed our efficiency and the scale and growth of production.”
“We are so pleased with how the business is growing and we are looking forward to an exciting future. But we wouldn’t have been in this position without the Growth Hub.”