Overview
The Isle of Man presents a unique economic landscape, predominantly led by professional, scientific, and technical activities. With a total of 608 employees across various sectors, the region shows a balanced distribution of industries, although there is a significant lean towards specific sectors like information and communication, and construction. The absence of IPOs and a modest employee growth rate of 4.26% indicate a stable, yet cautiously growing economy. The gender distribution in founder and director roles reveals a notable gender imbalance, favoring male representation.
Employment and Business Growth
- Total Employees: 608 employees. The Isle of Man’s workforce is concentrated in sectors like professional, scientific, and technical activities, which dominate the landscape with 77 companies. The employee growth rate of 4.26% suggests a steady, albeit slow, increase in employment opportunities.
- Top Sectors by Company Count: Professional, scientific, and technical activities lead with 48.73%, followed by information and communication (4.43%), and construction (4.43%). This distribution underscores the region’s focus on knowledge-based and technical industries.
- Scale-Ups: With only 1 scale-up reported, it indicates a relatively low level of high-growth companies, which might reflect the region’s conservative business expansion trends.
Business Continuity
- Company Cessations: The data indicates a total of 52 company cessations and 5 deaths in the business sector. This could reflect challenges in sustainability or market competitiveness within certain sectors.
- Company Formations: 32 new companies have been formed in the last two years, and 28 are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), highlighting an entrepreneurial spirit and the potential for new market entrants.
- Exporters and Foreign Parent Companies: 7 exporters and no foreign parent companies suggest a limited but present engagement in international trade, with a focus on domestic market operations.
Gender and Age Diversity in Leadership
- Founders’ Gender: 100% male founders indicate a significant gender gap in entrepreneurial activity.
- Directors’ Gender: 85.81% male and 12.16% female directors, with a small percentage (2.03%) unknown. This further highlights the gender imbalance in leadership positions.
- Age Distribution of Directors: The majority (61.15%) of directors are over 60 years old, with smaller representations in younger age brackets. This suggests a leadership landscape skewed towards more experienced, older individuals.
Conclusion
The Isle of Man’s economic and business activities showcase a strong inclination towards technical and professional sectors, with a stable but modest growth in employment. The region faces challenges in gender diversity in entrepreneurship and leadership roles, as well as in fostering high-growth scale-ups. The dominance of older individuals in directorial roles points to a potential need for younger leadership infusion. Overall, the Isle of Man exhibits a conservative, yet steady economic environment with room for increased diversity and innovation.