News: Rotherham entrepreneurs strive through downturn

Latest figures show that occupancy rates at business centres run by Rotherham Investment & Development Office (RiDO), the Borough Council’s regeneration arm, are at an all-time high and there’s been an unprecedented number of enquiries from people interested in renting an office at the new £5m start-up centre, Fusion@Magna, the fourth created by the council. RiDO’s business centres manager, Amanda Parris, said: “Although Rotherham has developed a reputation as a great place to launch and grow a business, we’ve been surprised by the level of interest in Fusion@Magna. In the current climate we had assumed there would be a slow down, but it confirms that we have a real entrepreneurial spirit here and that people are not being discouraged from following their dreams." For companies setting up in a RiDO business centre, the survival rate for the crucial first three years is virtually 90 per cent – well ahead of the national 71 per cent average. Fusion@Magna recently received excellent coverage in the Yorkshire Post.
RiDO website
Yorkshire Post article
The Star article

Black Enterprise article

Rotherham