HAMPSHIRE saw a dramatic rise in the number of start-ups last year as lockdowns, furloughs and redundancies all prompted people to set up businesses.

Southampton saw a 22 per cent year-on-year rise in company formations in the year to June 30, 2021.

Across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the rise was 14 per cent.

Nationally, there were 18 per cent more businesses incorporated than in the previous year.

The figures come in the Business Growth Index produced by Growtion, a consultancy helping small and medium sized enterprises to grow.

Among Southampton’s new businesses was Cadeau By Us, which sells gift boxes for babies and was launched by sisters Sareedo and Nafisa Ahmed.

Sareedo said the pair went into business after becoming mothers.

“We were going around to find items to gift ourselves and we just thought, why don’t we create pre-curated packages of presents for babies?” she said.

Sareedo, who designed the company’s website herself, had only just moved to Hampshire from London when the pandemic began.

“Our ability to adapt to whatever we have had to do, that’s just been brilliant,” she said.

The report says: “Lockdown, furloughs, challenging working conditions and redundancies created a perfect environment for those with an entrepreneurial bent, not only to reflect on their lives and where their purpose lay, but also to finesse their business ideas and get launching out in to the world.”

Southampton had 420 more start-ups than the year before, with the Bevois ward leading the way with 104 launches, up 28 per cent.

In Ringwood South, start-ups were down by 47, or 21 per cent.

Retail was the most popular sector for new businesses across the country, with an 84 per cent rise in start-ups nationally.

While the vast majority were online retailers, the nation gained 385 new toy shops, 171 bookshops and 576 bakeries.

Company formations were up 24 per cent in Gosport, 16 per cent in Fareham, 10 per cent in Winchester and one per cent in Test Valley, but down four per cent in the New Forest.

The Growtion Business Growth Index is based on Companies House data but aims to remove suspect companies which the authors say can skew the data.