Difference between the number of businesses starting and closing in Cardiff was better than any area of UK during pandemic
CARDIFF had 72% more businesses launching than closing in 2021 — 3,460 opened, while 2,010 shut down, despite the pandemic.
The figures count any business that was present in a given year, but did not exist in the previous two.
Cardiff has long had the highest number of new businesses opening in Wales. ONS data shows that in 2015, new businesses in the city made up 15.6% of the total.
This was almost double the second-best area of Wales, Rhondda Cynon Taf, which accounted for 8%.
Cardiff maintained this streak leading up to the pandemic. It launched 14.1% of the businesses started in Wales.
The number of businesses opening across the UK increased by 4% since the pandemic — 401, 815 businesses launched in 2021, compared with 386,200 in 2019.
Despite this, the UK had 420,135 businesses closures in 2021, almost 5% higher than the number of those opening.
The pandemic saw the birth of many businesses, including the Pink Kiwi Cafe, Cathays. Owner Taslima Ali, 34 opened the cafe in 2021 after leaving her job of 12 years at the HMRC.
Starting as a takeaway dessert bar, Pink Kiwi now offers coffee and brunches and a sit-down service.
She said: “I was only able to get to this stage with my business because of Covid.
“Time away from everyday life helped me realise what it was that I really wanted for my life. It gave me time to reflect and that’s when I decided to quit my job and buy my cafe.
“It was a massive risk. While working for the government, I had a job for life. But Covid made me feel like it was now or never, there is never a right time because you just don’t know what could happen.
“I just thought if I can get through Covid as a single parent with my two kids, I can do anything. It allowed me to see my potential.”
Primary school teacher Huw Barnes, of Canton, launched his business, HB Nutrition to combine his passions for teaching, and leading a healthy lifestyle.
“A year before the pandemic started, I became certified as a nutritionist. I wasn’t sure whether to use it in that capacity or start my own business. As I worked with some clients supporting them through lockdown, I came to the conclusion I wanted to give it a go,” he said.
“Had it not been for the pandemic I don’t think I’d have gone for it. Getting the business up and running has been tough and it’s taken some time. I’ve worked as a health and well-being teacher in a large school and food is a real passion of mine.
“I decided I wanted to help people eat well and understand how important nutrition is to their everyday lives and the goals they want to achieve.”
During the pandemic, the Welsh Government provided £2.6 billion funding to Welsh businesses, which helped protect 160,000 jobs which may have been lost without it.
Cardiff’s financial and business sector is the city’s largest employer with 20% of the city’s workers being employed in this field.
Brett Downes, 41, from Sully began his ghost-writing company, Haro Helpers, in September 2020. The company writes for companies who want to be featured in large publications. He said: “From a team of me, myself and I, we now have 12 writers, one social media manager, a Google pay-per-click advisor and a couple of virtual assistants.”
The pandemic has, however, had a mixed effect on businesses. A spokesperson for Cardiff Indie Collective, a community of independent businesses, said: “For some, being furloughed and having less going on has given them the creative space and time to set up a business, so there has been an increase of interesting creative businesses that have come out of it.
“For established businesses, some were able to adapt to the pandemic and the public really got into the ethos of supporting local. However, once the shops reopened and things got back to ‘normal’, many felt the shift away from shopping locally and had to readapt accordingly with some closing.”
See No Bounds, a platform set up to help other businesses, launched in May 2020. Its founder, Charlotte Fagergard said: “We had a bit of a panic but also a lightbulb moment whilst listening to the radio and understanding how important it was for us at this time to have a community that can help and support each other.
“Our Live @5 Chat show was born as well as some podcasts to help businesses advertise themselves online as we are strong believers that people buy from people.”
