With all the doom and gloom surrounding the UK economy, it’s good to finally hear some positive news to inspire our entrepreneurs. With more start-ups coming out of the woodwork, could support programmes be the way forward?
A new study from Telefonica O2 charting the rise of the incubator and accelerator ecosystem in the UK has found that start-ups who participate in support programmes in the early stages are more likely to survive than those who do not. The two-year survival rate of start-ups using incubator and accelerator programmes is 92%, compared to just 75.6% for other small businesses. And, fortuitously, these support programmes are themselves booming; in 2014, there were 59 incubator and accelerator programmes supporting 1,100 UK start-ups, helping entrepreneurs secure an average financial investment of £68,000.
Matthew Hancock, business minister, said: “With more than double the number of incubators and accelerators today than in 2011, the UK is fast becoming the best place in the world to start and grow a business. From London’s Tech City to exciting new clusters in Birmingham, Edinburgh and Manchester, large companies and Government are coming together to help foster exciting new businesses. We’re creating an environment where entrepreneurs can hone their ideas and thrive. We back Britain’s entrepreneurs every step of the way and always will.”
With such a rapid rise of incubators and accelerators in the past three years, the UK has surpassed European counterparts with the highest number available programmes for start-ups. “Start-ups play an important part in contributing to the innovation the UK needs to remain globally competitive and the report shows that accelerated start-ups have a far greater chance of success,” said Feilime Mackle, O2’s sales & service director and O2 board sponsor of Wayra. “The rise in UK start-up programmes creates a unique opportunity for the entrepreneurs.”
Given the streams of support networks available to lend a helping hand, if you fancy yourself a bit of an entrepreneur, there’s no time like the present to launch that budding business idea. 
