Why Bradford is the best place to start a business in Britain - Zahir Irani

Unemployment has doubled in the worst recession on record.

People and businesses are feeling the pain and will for years to come. In the meantime, local restrictions continue in an effort to contain Covid-19.

Don’t be despondent. Data demonstrates that something special is stirring in the district.

We are seeing a resurgence in startups as job losses, redundancy payments and opportunities for entrepreneurial activity combine to give birth to a new generation of Bradford businesses. This offers some optimism.

We are taking a novel approach to capitalise on this trend with the creation of highly skilled new jobs to replace the ones lost to the lockdown, particularly in the retail, hospitality, manufacturing and construction sectors.

More jobs will inevitably be lost, which is difficult for all affected, but certainly more will be created as we find ways of responding and adapting to a new economic landscape and the opportunities this will create.

The district responded to Covid-19 by convening the Bradford Council Economic Recovery Board, chaired by myself as a senior academic from the University of Bradford, and with representatives from industry, the local authority and the wider public sector. We are stress testing the economic strategy launched in 2018 to build on the district’s young and enterprising population, distinctive environment, growth potential and global connections.

Our businesses are starting to bounce back from the coronavirus crisis. Statistics show Bradford ranks 15th out of 317 English districts in the number of startups in the first eight months of the year. This means we are in the top five per cent of locations for new business creations, supporting the new national narrative about Bradford as a place of hope and renewal and a model for others to match or follow.Just prior to the pandemic hitting,

The Sunday Times singled out the district as one of the best places for business in Britain, pointing to our £10bn economy, young population, low commercial rents, good road infrastructure, ongoing regeneration, fast broadband and the University of Bradford, of which I am proud to be Deputy-Vice Chancellor. These fundamentals remain the same, Covid-19 or not.

My background is in academia, combining wide-ranging research interests, consulting work for industry and governments at home and overseas and senior management roles including head of an award-winning business school.

During the coalition Government, I was seconded to the Cabinet Office and served as a senior policy advisor. I am putting all my experience and expertise to support the district in bouncing forward.

We have set up four work streams, covering skilled employees and employment in new and growing sectors, the green economy, business start-ups and entrepreneurship and, culture and place. We will report by Christmas.

In a perfect world, fed-up people from other major cities would come to Bradford to start and grow their businesses. Barclays, which is chairing our business start-ups and entrepreneurship work stream, sees Bradford as the best place to start a business in Britain.

The accountancy firm PwC - another investor in Bradford and contributor to the work of the board - believes the district will benefit from the trend in working from home because of its

largely residential make-up.

Fast regional broadband will help, as will the affordability of housing. People can trade a one-bedroom basement flat with rising damp in Brentford for a four-bedroom townhouse with garden in Bradford or one of our surrounding towns.

We are strengthening our education system to ensure young people get the support they need to acquire the skills to succeed throughout life, whatever their background, and join our new and growing sectors.

Our schools are maintaining a high standard of education during the disruption of COVID-19 and working hard to address gaps in equality.

We are seeing encouraging progress in raising educational outcomes through the Opportunity Area scheme.

I don’t want to understate any of our challenges in Bradford. We had many deep-seated structural inequalities before the pandemic. The onset has forced them even wider. The bill is growing by the day, socially and economically.

Take heart though from the resurgence of business startups, the surest sign of the strong, enterprising and resilient spirit that runs through our streets. Yes, the last few months have been brutal.

But adversity brings out the best in Bradford.

By Zahir Irani Chair of Bradford Economic Recovery Board

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Thank you

James Mitchinso