Under 30s behind over 2,700 new beauty & hair businesses

The rise of the lockdown-preneur – under 30s behind over 2,700 new hairdressing and beauty treatment businesses.

Under 30s account for four in 10 new businesses versus 30% three years ago and according to new data, the Covid-19 pandemic has propelled enterprising under 30s into starting over 2,700 new hairdressing and beauty treatment businesses in 2020.

The Age of Entrepreneurialism data from The Accountancy Partnership reveals that the age of entrepreneurialism is rapidly decreasing. Businesses started by under 30s now account for four in 10 new businesses, versus 30% in 2017.

With 32% fewer job vacancies in the UK in 2020 than 2019, the era of uncertainty has encouraged young people to take earning power into their own hands and generate their own income streams.

Despite being heavily impacted by lockdown restrictions, hairdressing and beauty treatments was the eighth most popular start-up sector last year, accounting for 1.5% of new businesses. Furloughing and redundancy have given budding entrepreneurs the time to retrain in hair and beauty or develop existing skills into their own businesses.

More than two in 10 (23%) new business owners in 2020 created their business after being made redundant or furloughed from their current job. With a limited job market and businesses struggling, young people have been forced to look away from, and find alternatives to, regular employment.

The data also indicates that males are more enterprising than their female counterparts. Males make up 71% of new sole traders in total, and this is reflected in every age group. In 16-20-year-olds, women are 80% less likely to start a new business than men.

Although the pandemic has boosted entrepreneurialism among young people, the data suggests a longer-term trend in the enterprising nature of younger generations. Since 2017, there has been a 206% increase in 16-20-year-olds and a 72% increase in 21-30-year-olds registering as sole traders.

Lee Murphy, managing director atThe Accountancy Partnership, says, “It’s incredible to see the enterprising nature of Gen-Z and younger millennials. The barriers to starting a business are lower than ever, with the ease of selling services online with little to no initial costs. From our data it’s clear to see how each age group has been affected by the pandemic in relation to entrepreneurialism, turning to enterprise because their other options are so limited.

“Between 16 and 30-years-old is typically an uncertain time of life in normal circumstances as people decide whether to pursue further education or where to start their career. Closures in retail, hospitality and personal care, and money worries surrounding university, have made this year even more trialling, triggering this rise in young people starting businesses.

“The pandemic has also highlighted how important a digital presence is for business and over the past 12 months, social media has become a petri-dish of new business start-ups, with 31.2% of businesses in 2020 started on Facebook and 30.9% on Instagram. Young people are digitally native with social media at their fingertips to reach a customer audience, which has not been so easily accessible in the past.”

See the data in full here, and to find out more about services The Accountancy Partnership can offer your small business, visit https://www.theaccountancy.co.uk/