Creative entrepreneurs in groningen

Last decades have shown an increase in creative industries all around the world. More firms and jobs are created in sector which comprises arts, media and entertainment, and creative business services. While this is the trend, it has benefited more larger and cosmopolitan cities like London, Paris or Amsterdam. However, some smaller cities, as e.g. Groningen, have benefited by presence of higher education institutions which have lured in young people from other regions, also from all over the country. While many of them leave, others are stick to the place because of family reasons (life-partner), friends and preference to more relaxed urban environment. These are the explanation why overwhelming majority of entrepreneurs studied in this paper have lived in the region before they started their business there – indeed, from the 11 out of 30 entrepreneurs who are born outside the three northern provinces, ten have studied in Groningen. It must be noted that in respect of creative industries, Groningen stands out relatively well in comparison to larger municipalities of the Netherlands. If Groningen wants to enhance its position among other cities, attention should be paid not only to classical entrepreneurs’ pools, like university graduates and entrepreneurs in other regions, but also less represented groups like women and ethnic minorities. Employees in not well doing firms form also one possible pool for entrepreneurship.