rural business start ups

I was once told that there was huge potential for people in rural areas to get into exporting when starting their own business – seemed improbable to me until someone mentioned the magical word “ebay”. This article raises the same thoughts in my head. It makes me think of the brilliant scheme in Ceredigion which helped people with skills in rural mid-Wales to raise enough to get by in their chosen location to live by turning their hobbies into businesses. The article tells us:

According to Etsy’s 2017 seller census, 86 per cent of Etsy sellers in the UK are women and nearly half have children at home. This is a reverse of the national picture. According to the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills’ last study in 2014, 20 per cent of single-operator businesses were owned and run by women.

“We’re really excited about that because it’s an atypical view of an entrepreneur,” says Annette Picardo, UK managing director of Etsy. She says Etsy appeals to women for three key reasons.

First, 63 per cent of Etsy sellers built their business as a creative outlet. These entrepreneurs are very different from the stereotype of the man with his startup on London’s “Silicon Roundabout”, plugging the latest app or software development and dreaming of becoming the next Mark Zuckerberg.