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'Home' is the most popular location for UK business start-ups, according to Krista Waddell, the Billionairess CEO of American gold-party organiser Ounces to Pounds (www.ounces2pounds.co.uk), with more than 60% starting from home in Britain and 1,400 new businesses launched every week.

In total, 2.1million Brits have home-based businesses. The highest growths in home businesses are from Mums, followed by young people and over 50s. "We've seen an absolute explosion of home businesses in Britain in the last year," says Waddell.

"Avon are on a massive expansion drive in Britain at the moment with a campaign fronted by Reese Witherspoon and mentoring for 'women working from home' from Karren Brady amongst others." "The Body Shop has realised this, launching a home-selling network this year for the first time since they launched in 1976. The Body Shop home-business and the gold party concept has really taken off in Britain because we both realise it's a way of tapping into a huge pool of unused talent, Mums who want to work in the evening whilst their partners or friends babysit. Childcare is so expensive otherwise," says Waddell. Enterprise Nation champions home-based businesses and according to its survey, 87 percent of home-working parents felt that home-working was good for their children". "The guilt factor is not there for Mums who can raise their kids at home, whilst still being entrepreneurial in their spare time".

The fastest growing sectors for home businesses in the UK are in the business and professional services sector (such as accountants and website developers), online trading (such as eBay-ers), personal services (such as home interior designers, hairdressers, party planners), food (products and caterers), and domestic energy (including people selling excess DIY ‘green' power back into the national grid).

Home business owners are particularly IT savvy and make full use of the internet and software applications to manage their business and their life. In previous entries to the Enterprise Nation Home Business Award (sponsored in 2010 by Ounces to Pounds), 98 percent of entrants had a business website and 64 percent were utilising e-commerce platforms. In further research carried out for BT, 42 percent of home business owners confirmed they go online for business advice and 86 percent agreed that technology is more important to them as a home based business than in an office environment.

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