How Shelf Companies Lost Their Appeal and What to Do Now
Also known as a ready-made company or an off-the-shelf company, a shelf company is a pre-registered business you can buy and customise.
Despite all the turmoil surrounding Brexit, the UK is still offering new businesses great opportunities. For one thing, there is great optimism coming from the UK population about our economic outlook for the future.
According to the findings of an annual study launched by Idinvest Partners (Idinvest’s UK Entrepreneurship Barometer), where the results are used as a barometer to measure the concerns of up and coming entrepreneurial talent, 44% of the UK population still consider this country the best place to start a new business. The positive results beat Germany into second place by a wide margin.
The study poses question about Brexit and the consequences of it on UK businesses, personal motivations, fundraising challenges and economic climate. The feedback is used to measure the mood of the people and while there are concerns that Brexit may well diminish the country’s position as one of the leading business hubs in Europe, 44% still believe it is the best country in Europe to start up a new business.
Good Business Optimism
The study findings also show that 57% of all respondents were remaining optimistic over the country’s economic performance over the next year. While many future business owners are considering their options with regard to Brexit, the vast majority are still confident that they will be starting up their business in the UK rather than elsewhere in Europe.
Christophe Bavière, CEO and Benoist Grossmann, managing partner at Idinvest Partners, said:
‘These findings clearly demonstrate the strong entrepreneurial drive at the heart of the nation and the belief that the UK continues to provide a supportive social and economic environment to foster this talent- a view that we continue to support.
‘Over the past 20 years Idinvest Partners has helped build a dedicated ecosystem for entrepreneurs we look forward to supporting and growing the next generation of British talent.’
Determined UK Entrepreneurs
The annual study continues to show that the entrepreneurial spirit within the UK is still as strongly driven as ever. While we will be distancing ourselves from Europe with Brexit, this doesn’t seem to be deterring new start-ups from setting up in the UK.
According to the results of the last study, over half of the UK population are keen to start up their own company, and a further 16% actually confirmed they had definite plans to do so in the near future.
This means there is a great prospect that for every ten people in the UK, two of them will be setting themselves up as entrepreneurs over the coming year or two. With recent graduates and the younger generation being the ones who expressed a greater desire to becoming entrepreneurs, we can expect these figures to grow even higher in the coming years.
In fact, these are the results of the last study showing the responses of the population that were keen to launch their own business in the near future:
- 76 per cent of 18-24 years old
- 70 per cent of 25-34 years old
- 66 per cent of 35-49 years old
- 48 per cent of 50-64 years old
Is age actually a barrier to starting your own business? Interestingly, the study also raised the question over age limits. Almost 60% of the respondents believed that you needed to be over 30 years of age to be able to start their own business. This isn’t actually the case at all as you can start your own business at any age. Even children can start up a business as long as they have a parent or guardian to sign for them on their behalf. You can legally form your own business and become a director of your own company at age 18, so any recent graduate or young person can set up their own business.
62% of the population were concerned that the Brexit timeline may be disruptive to a new business as well as the uncertainty surrounding the Brexit process. The main concerns expressed about Brexit were:
- Access to the single market (30 per cent)
- Fundraising Climate (29 per cent)
- Regulation (23 per cent)
- Investment in infrastructure (23 per cent)
- Consumer sentiment (21 per cent)
Business Funding
With nearly half of those surveyed saying that they plan to invest their own personal savings into their business, fundraising is a great concern for new entrepreneurs. With the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, they are unsure if they would be negatively impacted after we have cut our ties with Europe.
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Economic Outlook
With almost 60% of people being optimistic about the economic outlook for the UK post-Brexit, and almost 70% being motivated to start up a business, many entrepreneurs are determined that Brexit will not prevent them from becoming their own boss.
So for those up and coming new entrepreneurs with an innovative idea, the strength, ambition and determination to succeed, the UK still remains as the best choice of country to set up a new business within Europe.
Further reading:
Start-up Company Rate Seems Unaffected by Brexit
Are There Advantages to Running Your Business as a Limited Company Instead of Being Self-Employed?
