Portsmouth is listed as one of the best places to start a business

A study conducted by payment provider Dojo, part of the Paymentsense brand, found that the city was the sixth best place in the UK to turn lockdown hobbies into successful side hustles.

The news has been welcomed by business leaders, who say that it’s no surprise as the city is such a good start-up incubator.

It also follows Instant Offices' latest Entrepreneurial Index which ranked Portsmouth as the most entrepreneurial city in 2020 and a separate report by finance firm Capital on Tap, which found 1,970 new firms had started in Portsmouth since March 23.

Deputy leader of Portsmouth City Council, Cllr Steve Pitt, said: ‘This is the third report in as many months to highlight Portsmouth as a great place to start a business, which is so heartening to see.

‘It's particularly inspiring that part of the study criteria is based on five-year start-up survival rate, showing that we're creating companies that last.’

Stef Nienaltowski, chief executive officer at Shaping Portsmouth, said: ‘We are proud that we are being recognised for the many years of work we have all put in.

‘Portsmouth is seen as one of the most entrepreneurial cities in the UK and over many years Shaping's business and enterprise focus has contributed to this position.

‘This is great recognition for the thousands of entrepreneurs who use our city as the most inspirational and supportive of bases for their businesses.’

Becky Lodge, who runs Start-Up Disruptors, a support group that looks after hundreds of start-up businesses in the local area, agreed.

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She said: ‘Portsmouth is a great city to set up a remote business, at StartUp Disruptors we focus on the local start-up ecosystem and have worked with key stakeholders to make the city the most entrepreneurial city in the UK.’

The study looked at population, five year start-up survival rate, internet accessibility, average pay, unemployment rate and the number of post offices in each city.

A spokeswoman for Dojo said: ‘Portsmouth comes in joint sixth place, alongside Peterborough. Portsmouth however, has one of the lowest unemployment rates out of all the UK regions examined – 3.7 per cent – and with an average monthly rent for one-bed city apartment sitting at £632, it's no wonder that it ranked in the UK's top 10 cities for remote work.’

Top was Gloucester with a score of 162, followed by Norwich on 156, Southampton was third with 153, Carlisle on 148, Swansea on 146, Peterborough on 145 and Portsmouth also on 145.

St Albans was eighth with 143, then Chelmsford on 143, and Lincoln on 141.

For more go to dojo.tech/

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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