We're back and ready for 2022...

Following a short break to recharge our batteries, we're back, fully open, and ready to take on the New Year armed with plans, goals and ideas.

During the festive break it was amazing, though not surprising, to read that one of our directors - and former tenant at Workspace House - was awarded an MBE! Huge congratulations to Paul Holt, MD of Photocentric. If you haven't read the article on Paul and the Award the Peterborough Telegraph covered the announcement here. 

Having such a leading-edge business in the city is a huge positive and hopefully a motivating factor for any recent start-up business and budding entrepreneur in the city. We know from previous reports that Peterborough always scores high in entrepreneurship - the most recent data for 2020 from Inform Direct recorded over a third (approx. 2,500) of Cambridgeshire startups coming from Peterborough*¹ - and we want this growth to continue. Successes like Paul and Photocentric will play their part. Another key part in seeing growth is access to support, and there are a number of support networks for entrepreneurs, startups, and micro businesses in the city. From grant funded projects to start-up programmes, the support is there. A great resource is Opportunity Peterborough, who not only signpost events and programmes but run their own startup programme called Start Up Peterborough (full disclosure, we are a key partner and supporter of the Startup Programme). 

Looking ahead to later in the year is the opening of our university. Long overdue, we see this as a huge step forward for the city and something that will help stimulate the growth of start-ups in the city will be later this year. It's been a long-time coming, but it will play a huge part in transforming our city both by attracting new businesses and the inevitable increase in businesses being started by graduates and students.

For Workspace, we’re looking at what more we can do to help play a part in stimulating the local economy. We continue to provide low-cost, affordable fully serviced workspaces, offices, and units from our premises in Woodston. Helping these businesses succeed and grow is our primary goal, and we want to see them outgrow our premises and leave to occupy their own offices, warehouses, and premises across the city, just like Photocentric. But we’re more than that. Our virtual address service enables the ever-growing number of home-run/work-from-home businesses to project a commercial presence, remove their home address from the internet and provide access to support, networks and more. Increasing our ability to help even more entrepreneurs and startups in the city is one of our key goals for 2022 and we are working on plans, independently and in partnership, to work out how we can achieve our goals.

So, for every budding entrepreneur, new startup, existing business in the area, we wish you a successful, positive 2022 and look forward to playing our part!

 Sources:

^{*1 https://www.informdirect.co.uk/company-formations-2020/national/}