When you’re starting a business, where you begin your venture is an incredibly important decision.
Where you situate yourself will determine things like who you can trade with and what markets you may have access to. Local, regional, and national economies can vary greatly, as can things like trading laws and consumer confidence. What you’re trading or providing carries great weight to, because some areas will better respond to what you’re offering!
However, when starting a business, most entrepreneurs want to situate themselves in an area where they can save money. For many, Edinburgh ticks all those boxes. But how does Scotland’s capital pull off such a feat?
Below, you’ll find a few reasons as to how you cave save money by starting your business in Edinburgh.
Supporting businesses
Most firms thrive on B2B relations, trading products and services to greatly improve their prospects.
The same is true of Edinburgh, where a culture of helpfulness and support is at the heart of everything. Exemplary of this notion Texaport, who provide IT help across Edinburgh. This company provide an array of quality services, from strategically planning your IT infrastructure to proactive monitoring, maintenance, and cybersecurity. They map every eventuality and prepare for everything, relieving you of the many burdens in managing an IT system. If you need IT help in Edinburgh, Texaport have you covered.
Utilising a supporting business means great things for costs too. It’s far more affordable to consult the experts of a field than it is to recruit, train, and pay a series of permanent staff members for the same results. Fortunately, Edinburgh is rife with companies who are willing to eliminate much of the fuss that comes with managing all the different limbs of a business, freeing up your mind and time for other endeavours.
A culture of excellence
Situating your new business in Edinburgh will give you access to both fresh talent and to veterans of industry.
For example, the prestigious University of Edinburgh regularly releases a fresh outflow of highly employable graduates into the city. According to their website, 94% of their students are in employment or postgraduate study after six months, which illustrates just how much employers or further education programmes want to recruit these individuals. The university prides itself on the merits of hard work and ensures that everyone has earned their place and their prospects for greater things. This is where your business could come in!
Working for a newly formed company comes with many perks, such as greater chances of progression and enjoying more tailored perks. There’s greater responsibility too than what might be found in a job at a larger or longer established firm, so your business could very well be appealing for all the latest talent. Your openings could provide new recruits with a host of challenges and skills, and the talent pool in Edinburgh has the work ethic to meet your quotas.
Media attention
Where there’s buzz, there’s business.
Recently, The Scotsman covered a study undertaken by Informi, citing that Edinburgh was the third best city to start a business, ahead of London! That’s an impressive accomplishment, and no doubt inspires many budding entrepreneurs around the country. Moreover, many locals take pride in these kinds of studies and surveys and can recite where they ranked in what list and when at any time! It invigorates everybody, which is great for business!
This consensus is consistent with mainstream media outlets too. In 2016, The Guardian dubbed Edinburgh as ‘the start-up city of the year’, which shows that the city has a proven track record in impressing the masses and producing results. The pride of the entrepreneurs was cited as a driving factor in the report, and that passion hasn’t waned in the subsequent years since.
Ultimately, there’s a positive outlook toward Edinburgh when it comes to starting a business. It’s not a niche secret, but an open truth, and it’s no doubt sparked further trade and investment in the city. Such endorsements have far reaching influences for years to come, so to start your business in a place of mainstream repute is undoubtedly a good sign of things to come.
Tourist hotspot
Edinburgh is a magnet for tourists, which for some businesses can mean genuinely great things.
If there’s more people in a city, there’s typically more shoppers. Depending on the industry your business is working in, this can mean sales numbers can fly through the roof. In 2019, Edinburgh attracted 2.2 million overseas tourists, second only to London. The report from the Guardian also notes that during the times before COVID, areas outside of restaurants would be so full of people that the tarmac couldn’t be seen at all.
Ultimately, a regular and high influx of people entering and exiting a city is always a great thing, generating a buzz and excitement that increases the desire for spend. Obviously, all industries have taken a hit during the pandemic, and tourism has suffered more than most others. However, when things do go back to normal, there will be an even grater craving for tourism-related businesses here, or firms that sell any product that can fit in a rucksack or suitcase!