2020 and 2021 were atypical years for us all. And when it comes to businesses, old and new, the challenges of keeping them afloat reached a whole new level. However, no pandemic was a reason strong enough to stop determined entrepreneurs in Britain from pursuing a new business venture over the past 24 months. In fact, during the first half of 2021, almost 80 new businesses were created every hour across the UK, according to research by small business lenders Iwoca. And if numbers are anything to go by these days, data from HMRC also shows that in March 2021 more new businesses were created than in any other month since records began in 1989.

If not long ago people starting up their own businesses in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland was a way to switch from staff to employer – or to have a source of extra income – Covid-19 introduced us to words that weren’t part of our daily conversations, such as furlough. And a wave of many lockdown restrictions and company closures forced people out of work, resulting in new entrepreneurs refusing to be defeated by a virus or changes in work circumstances.

Analysis of Companies House data reveals that 340,534 businesses were registered in the UK between January and June 2021, an increase of 32% from 257,243 over the same period in 2019. And new businesses are being created, in 2022, at a similarly fast speed.

Here, three female entrepreneurs based in Britain share how they decided to make the most of the pandemic to start their own businesses. And they are not looking back.

Meet Clare, Lizzy, and Carrie.

Clare Davies – founder at personalised bottle soc company Bottle Soc

I tried to solve a common problem and found my tribe

After completing a degree in advertising, Clare became pregnant with her first child and decided that advertising wasn’t for her and set up her first business with the help of the Prince’s Trust. The global meltdown of 2008 led the Wallingford-based freelancer illustrator to sell her company but, in the back of her mind, a new business idea was forming. “It wasn’t easy, and I lost count of how many times people said ‘No, it won’t work. Why would people want to re-use an old bottle when it’s just as cheap to go buy a new one?’

She carried on anyway and many prototypes later the Bottlesoc was finally ready, and Clare launched her new business in 2020, at the start of the pandemic.

“I started Bottle Soc during lockdown. I decided that it was a kind of now or never moment.

Like most people, I was at home and, because I had a particular problem with my children, who were perpetually losing their water bottles or getting them scratched and not wanting to use them, I decided to make a product that fitted my need and solved my problem. And that is what Bottle Soc does: I no longer have to carry bottles in my hands and they are not rolling about, on the floor of the car.

The way I am promoting them is still very organic: I met other mums at school, and I would give them some samples and say, ‘try this, it works for me’. When we have children, we all have a similar problem. We don’t want to carry water bottles, but we want the children to drink water because it is healthy. The business started to grow from there and now I have found my own tribe of people who had the same problem and common interests.

I think, in some way, the pandemic helped me. It galvanised things for me. We were all shut inside. And we all had plans with people in the family and podcasts to listen to, but I wanted to set my business up. So, I made sure that I used that time that the pandemic gave us to do something positive for myself because, if anything, those two years allowed people to do a lot of thinking about habits that they had before. I started as a greeting card designer, and I have always worked for myself. I think working for yourself is a good privilege and the pandemic just pushed me forward with my own business”.

Carrie Neely – founder at art, apparel, and interiors brand Myrtle and Mary

Free time to do something creative, turned into a business

Graduated with a BA Hons degree in visual Communications from art college in Belfast in 1997, prior to the global pandemic, Carrie Neely made a living putting art into hotels. It all stopped when a series of lockdowns grounded people at home and the hospitality industry shut down across the UK. The quiet times gave the artist a chance to re-evaluate her career and to start a new art, apparel, and interior brand named after her grandmothers.

“I started creating the Myrtle and Mary characters over lockdown, and I launched the products less than a year ago. This is the first time, in over 20 years, that I have created something for myself. My business is putting art into hotels, but as the sector came to a halt, that side of the business dried up, giving me free time to do something creative, which I don’t normally have time to do. Myrtle & Mary feels utterly indulgent because I started it for enjoyment and didn’t realize that it would turn into a business.

The feedback has been fantastic, and I am in shock. We sell our products through our website and the global online marketplace Wolf & Badger. I think I am just shocked that people wanted to buy my art. It is a good chain effect: once I’d opened the creative floodgates, I literally couldn’t stop – morning, noon, and night I was creating. But also, once I started to create them, my other business started to come back and now I have to work on the challenge that is creating a balance between a new business that I really enjoy and my established company that actually brings in the money.

The future is promising and, now that people are going back out on the streets, I can’t wait to get my work in a big department store and to collaborate and design for other brands, too.”

Lizzy Humphrey – Founder at aromatherapy home fragrance brand Epoch London

Everything changed, so I changed my strategy

18 months ago, Lizzy Humphrey started Epoch London, an aromatherapy home fragrance brand, with no experience in running a business. She wanted to offer a natural alternative to home fragrances and to find new ways of making candles, instead of commercial ones that are produced using paraffin wax, which is derived from petroleum, and synthetic fragrances. After many late nights and setbacks – and a commitment to taking a kinder approach to herself and the business – the entrepreneur now offers handcrafted candles created in small batches using a blend of sustainable soy wax and pure essential oils.

“I was working in advertising but ended up on furlough, due to the pandemic, and had lots of spare time. And as we were all crept up at home, it felt like it was really important to create a sort of home sanctuary as self-care was really, really needed. It was just a great outlet for me to start creating some natural home fragrances and use aromatherapy as a way of boosting wellbeing – and then also try and offer that to others.

The biggest challenge was having to adapt to the shifts in people’s lives. Everything from different lifestyles to the way people were dealing with the pandemic and restrictions, and how that affected people on an individual level and an economy as well. Originally, I was selling large quantities online and, as people were able to come back out on the high street, and into shops and boutiques, I had to pivot and approach more of a wholesale strategy. That was what my target was then, to have stocked and wholesale products. And then we went back into lockdown. Having to adjust not only to the current economy but also all the uncertainties that come with being an entrepreneur, nowadays, is a constant challenge. It involves having to try and pre-empt customers’ behaviours in terms of whether they’re going to want to shop online or in-store, and just adjusting to people’s needs and spending habits.

Top Drawer was my first trade event. It was definitely interesting to get a feel for the market and see it from a retail perspective. It feels like we are out of the woods now and moving forward in 2022. My goal is to get my products in stores across the UK and in people’s homes while raising brand awareness and the benefits of natural aromatherapy home fragrances.