Barriers to entrepreneurship in low-income households in the UK: An entrepreneurial ecosystems perspective

Low-income individuals face multiple barriers to entrepreneurship, yet there is a lack of evidence about how these barriers are experienced in small town contexts. Drawing on an entrepreneurial ecosystems perspective, this paper examines how place influences access to entrepreneurial resources for low-income entrepreneurs. We analyse interviews and a focus group with 14 low-income residents in four small towns in Cornwall, UK. Our findings show that in small peripheral towns, the issue may not be a lack of entrepreneurial resources but rather limited access to them. Geographical isolation, weak transport links, lack of local industry, and limited institutional connectivity restrict access to human, social, financial, and institutional capital. This embeds entrepreneurs within highly localised markets with limited opportunities for venture creation and growth. We also find that community entrepreneurship provides a more accessible route into entrepreneurial activity by enabling participants to mobilise local social networks and community assets, although these ventures remain constrained by the same ecosystem conditions. We argue that entrepreneurial ecosystem research should place greater emphasis on resource accessibility, alongside resource availability, when examining entrepreneurship in peripheral and disadvantaged places.