Member Article

Hobbyists turning passions into start-up ventures

Hobbies are proving an ever-greater inspiration for start-up entrepreneurs, Barclays Local Business research has found. Latest figures, taken in the third quarter of 2007, showed a 16% increase in gardening and horticulture services sector start-ups when compared to the same period last year.

Somewhat predictably, the gardens of England in the South East and East provided more inspiration for eager Britons than most, with those regions responsible for increases of more than 50%. The East Midlands really stood out, witnessing a 100% rise on 2006 rates.

Construction too has proved popular. The number of start-ups in the sector increased 14% in a year-on-year comparison. In total over the period 106,200 businesses were started, representing a small rise of 1,700 on last year’s third quarter. And new entrepreneurs aged 65 and over featured more prominently.

John Davis, marketing director for local business at Barclays said: “The British public are well known to be keen gardeners. However, faced with ever increasing demands on their leisure time it is their gardens that can fall by the way side. It is unsurprising therefore, that a growing number of enterprising people are leveraging their knowledge in this field and looking to combine their favourite pastime whilst capitalising on the current trends brought about by a time poor society.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .