The United Kingdom is one of the most welcoming and accommodating countries in the world with immigrants coming from all across the world to reside and start their businesses there.
Statistics show that the UK’s migrant population is concentrated in London. Around 35 percent of people living in the UK who were born abroad live in the capital city. Similarly, around 37 percent of people living in London were born outside the UK, compared with 14 percent for the UK as a whole.
As an immigrant or foreigner in the UK, there are several business opportunities available to you if you choose not to work for any organization but to start your own business.
It is a known fact that the UK provides an ideal platform for aspiring entrepreneurs to start and grow their business. One of the largest benefits of doing business in the United Kingdom is the ease of doing business.
The United Kingdom is ranked 8 among 190 economies in the ease of doing business, according to the latest World Bank annual ratings. The World Bank ranking means the UK is the second best place to do business in the G7 after the US and the second best in the EU.
So, if you are an immigrant or foreigner in the United Kingdom and you desire to start a business of your own, here are 50 business ideas you can choose from.
Best Business Opportunities in UK for Foreigners
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Buko Juice Shake Bar
As a Filipino migrant in The United Kingdom, one of the easiest business opportunities you can leverage on is to open a Buko juice shake bar. Buko juice shake is a simple mixture of fledgling coconut water, coconut meat and milk.
It’s very refreshing and healthy. Naturally refreshing, coconut water has a sweet, nutty taste. It contains easily digested carbohydrates in the form of sugar and electrolytes. Please note that it is not same with high-fat coconut milk or oil.
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Acai Bowl Bar
As a South American migrant in The United Kingdom, one of the easiest business opportunities you can leverage on is to open an acai bowl bar. Acai bowl business is taking over in the United States and starting an acai bowl business can be interesting at the same time rewarding especially if you situate your acai bowl bar in strategic location.
The fact that people crave for healthy smoothies makes it one of those businesses that is in high demand. Acai bowl bar business is one of the businesses that an entrepreneur can successfully start in the corner of a busy street or on a mobile shop without breaking the bank for cash.
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Nigerian/African Restaurant
Another good business opportunity that is open to an immigrant from Nigeria or Africa in general is to open an African Restaurant.
The truth is that if you can successfully launch this type of business in The United Kingdom, you will not struggle to attract customers on a daily basis because there are loads of immigrants from African who are longing to eat African food.
Just ensure that you know how to prepare leading meals from various African countries and you will be fine with the business and the income you generate.
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African Food Hub
African food hub (grocery store) is a business opportunity that an immigrant from Africa can successfully start in The United Kingdom and make huge monthly income. This type of business will do pretty well if you locate it in the midst of African communities in The United Kingdom and you know how to get fresh African food ingredients from Africa.
It is the norm for immigrants from Africa to try as much as possible to locate a store where they can easily get food items from their home countries; it is a way of still connecting to their culture and lifestyle.
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Asian Boutique
As an Asian migrant in The United Kingdom, one of the easiest business opportunities you can leverage on is to open an Asian Boutique; a boutique with a robust collection of Asian attires and fashion accessories. It is a good way of making money and your clients will not be restricted to immigrants of Asian descent, but people all across the city.
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Acupuncture Clinic
There are vast business opportunities in the alternative medical practice industry and acupuncture is one of them. This line of business is thriving and profitable in the United Kingdom. So, if you are from India, China, Japan and most countries in Asia and you are interested in starting a business in the United Kingdom, then you should consider opening your own acupuncture clinic business.
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Ayurveda Clinic
If you are an alternative medicine practitioner and an immigrant in The United Kingdom who is looking towards starting a business, you can choose to open an Ayurveda clinic.
When it comes to starting an Ayurveda clinic, you should be ready to make plain your services and operations. So also, you should make use of herbs that are non-toxic and does not contain heavy metals.
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African Boutique
As an African migrant in the United Kingdom, one of the easiest business opportunities you can leverage on is to open an African Boutique; a boutique with a robust collection of African attires and fashion accessories.
It is a good way of making money and your clients will not be restricted to immigrants of African descent, but people all across the city where your boutique is located who would want to identify with the African culture.
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Butchery Business
Please note that starting a butchery business in the United Kingdom requires that you secure the necessary permits from the regulatory bodies, although some entrepreneurs usually run this type of business in the UK without the required permits.
So, if you have decided to start your own butchery business, then you should ensure that you carry out thorough feasibility studies and also market survey. You should also secure the needed public health and hygiene certificates and permits.
Business plan is yet another very important business document that you should not take for granted in the bid to launching your own butchery business.
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Unisex Salon
Opening a unisex salon is one good business opportunity that an immigrant in The United Kingdom can leverage on. This business is a thriving and profitable business especially if it is well located in community and you have professional male and female hairstylists under your payroll.
You can actually start this business small and with one salon and then spread out to other key cities in The United Kingdom. So also, you can leverage on the home services or mobile salon business model to build your customer base.
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Car Wash Business
It is a known fact that it is challenging starting any business, but one business that you can start with little challenges in the UK as an immigrant is a car wash business.
In the United Kingdom, the car wash industry is regarded as one of the industries that accommodate more of unskilled workers than skilled workers. This because some of the basic services offered by car wash companies revolves around cleaning, washing, and waxing.
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Chinese Restaurant
If you live in the United Kingdom or in most parts of the world, you will notice that Chinese restaurants are amongst the restaurants that generate huge income year in year out and it is one business that hardly goes out of fashion. Chinese restaurant comprises of chain and franchised restaurants that serve Chinese food to patrons.
It is common to find Chinese restaurants selling alcoholic and other beverages. One good thing about this business is that you don’t necessarily need to be a Chinese before starting a Chinese restaurant; you can learn how to prepare Chinese meals from standard catering schools even in the United Kingdom.
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Cleaning Services Company
The United Kingdom happens to be one of the countries in Europe where the cleaning services industry is booming. As an immigrant or foreigner who is ready to build a business that will survive the future, then you should build your business along the services industry.
One of such businesses that can be categorized under the services industry is cleaning services business. This type of business can be started by anybody as long as you have eyes for details and cleanliness. If you have experience in this regard, it will be easier for you to start and run a cleaning services business.
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House Keeping Business
Another thriving and profitable business venture that an immigrant or foreigner in The United Kingdom can start is housekeeping business; there is indeed a large market for housekeeping agencies in The United Kingdom. Housekeeping is basically about the management of daily duties and chores involved in the running of a household/home.
Daily activities and chores such as cleaning, lawn mowing, cooking, home maintenance, shopping, laundry, washing dishes, bill payment et al, are carried out by housekeepers. Housekeeping services business is one of the businesses that an entrepreneur can successfully start small and perhaps with a functional home office without breaking the bank for cash.
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Coffee Importation Business
If you are contemplating of starting a business in the United Kingdom as a foreigner or immigrant, then one of your options is to start a coffee importation business. The truth is that anyone can start a coffee importation business; although it requires some serious startup capital.
Aside from that, is indeed a profitable business venture because of the rate at which Americans consume coffee. Statistics shows that over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world every day and over 90 percent of coffee production takes place in developing countries – mostly South America, while consumption happens mainly in developed countries.
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Concert Promoter Business
If you are a good event organizer and you have what it takes to organize and promote events that people will be willing to pay for, then you should consider starting a business that is involved in the promotion of concerts and related events. This is one business that is thriving in the United Kingdom.
As a concert promoter, you are expected to work on behalf of concert organizers in order to successfully help them promote their concerts so as to attract much audience and get all available seats booked. At the end of the day, the most important thing is for them to achieve their primary objective and that is to profit.
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Temp Agency Business
One good thing about the immigrant communities in any country is that most of them see themselves as one hence they are willing to do business amongst themselves. In the United Kingdom, the immigrant communities are occupying most of the temp jobs.
This goes to show that as an immigrant with background in HR and recruiting, you can successful start your own temp agency. A temp agency is responsible for recruiting temporary workers for businesses and organizations. Organizations in need of short-term workers, contact temporary work agencies to send temporary workers to them.
Some temp staffing agencies offer services beyond just recruiting employees but also help in preparing the employees to fit into the role that they are being recruited for. Usually such temp staffing agencies charge more than those who just recruit employees.
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Laundromat Business
In the United Kingdom, self-service laundry business which is popularly called laundromat is an essential part of the urban life. This is so because 24 hours seems not to be enough especially for people that work in the corporate world or who run their own business.
As the name implies, a self-service laundry or coin wash/laundry or laundromat is a laundry facility where people come in to personally wash and dry their clothes; technically, customers provide their own labor and still pay the for making use of the laundry equipment available. As an immigrant in The United Kingdom, you can start a laundromat business from the scratch and build it to profitability in record time.
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Travelling Agency
The United Kingdom is one of the preferred destinations for travel all across the world. This goes to show that there is a large market for traveling agencies and as an immigrant you can leverage on this opportunity to start your own traveling agency. Travel agencies renders services that cover all aspects of traveling.
They help their clients in securing visas (especially transit visas), purchase flight tickets, book hotels, book taxi cabs and bus shuttle services and of course make arrangement for site seeing amongst other services. They work in conjunction with service providers such as airline companies, car rental companies, cruise lines companies, hotels, railways, tourist sites managers and perhaps interpreters and security agencies.
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Direct Sales Business
If per chance you consider yourself to be gifted in the art of selling, then you should consider starting a direct sales company as an immigrant or foreigner in the United Kingdom. The truth is that this line of business is highly profitable and, in some cases, you may not have to commit your money to the products you want to sell.
You can get supply on trust. Just like most businesses, the direct selling industry is open to as many people as are interested in the industry as long as you have what it takes to sell goods and services.
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Handyman Services
Handyman business is yet another business that an immigrant or foreigner in the United Kingdom with technical background can start; it is a business that is quite common amongst immigrants in the United Kingdom. A handyman provides a wide range of services needed for the maintenance of buildings and properties.
The services provided by a handyman include plumbing, electrical works, carpentry, painting, heating and cooling services and other building and property maintenance and repair works. To set up your handyman business, you need to be familiar with different kinds of trades as this is an important factor that can enable you get jobs.
To succeed in the business, you should try as much as possible not to reject jobs as some jobs might seem too small for you to accept. Doing the small jobs is what often opens the way for you as a handyman with your clients.
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Domiciliary Care Agency
Domiciliary care is provided to people who still live in their own homes but require additional support with activities, including household tasks, personal care and any other activity that allows them to maintain both their independence and quality of life. As a domiciliary care worker, you would be providing a full range of personal care from assisting with washing and dressing in the morning to aiding with toileting during the day.
On a different day you might be assisting someone who is fully mobile but has dementia and requires assistance with cooking and cleaning. If you have interest in starting your own domiciliary care agency business in the UK, then you need to pay a visit to the health and medical regulatory body in your council for more information.
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Event Planning
Event planning is another good business opportunity that an immigrant in the United Kingdom can successfully start especially if you are a socialite and you have robust business network amongst immigrants in the United Kingdom. Event planning is all about helping corporate organizations, groups and individuals plan and execute their events from start to finish.
An event planner ensures that they work with the stipulated budget of the organization or individual and ensure that they deliver a successful event as agreed. In some cases, it is the responsibility of the event planner to draw up a budget for the organizer of the event once they get a brief of the nature of the event.
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Dump Trucking Business
Dump trucking business is one of many businesses that you will find the immigrant communities participating actively in the United Kingdom. No doubt, the dump truck industry plays a very important role in the economy of the United Kingdom; they provide essential services by transporting construction materials, machines, equipment, dirt, rocks, building materials, et al, from manufacturing plants to construction sites and from construction sites to dump sites. As matter of fact, dump trucks are indispensable in the construction industry.
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Drop Shipping Business
As an immigrant or foreigner who is looking towards leveraging on the ecommerce industry in the United Kingdom to launch a business that requires minimal startup capital, one of the many businesses you can successfully start in the industry is drop – shipping business.
It is known fact that you will only require very minimal startup capital to successful start and run a drop-shipping company.
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General Contracting Company
As an immigrant in the United Kingdom, if you are thinking of starting a business with huge returns on investment, then one of your best bet is to venture into the real estate industry. Of course, there are several money spinning business opportunities in the real estate industry and one of them is to start a general contracting company.
A general contracting company or general contractor is responsible for providing all of the material, labor, equipment (such as engineering vehicles and construction tools and machines) and other services needed for the construction of a project. Usually, the general contractor hires specialized sub – contractors to them execute all or some portions of the entire construction project.
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Coffee Shop Business
There are immigrants from Italy and Mexico who are good at making coffee and people can go to all lengths to drink coffee from their shops. As an immigrant who is skilled in making coffee, one of the business opportunities you can start in The United Kingdom is to open your own coffee shop.
You can be rest assured to always generate sales on a daily basis. As a matter of fact, it is easy to open chains of coffee shops in The United Kingdom within record time if you know how to go about it.
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Electronics Retail Store
Part of what you need to do to make headway in this line of business as a foreigner in the UK is to ensure that your store is intentionally positioned and you a have good business relationship with manufacturers and wholesale suppliers of various types of electronics.
One good thing about this type of business is that you don’t need to enroll in a conventional business school to learn how to run this type of business; it is a business that requires basic business skills.
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Fast Food Restaurant
If you have unique recipe and you are an immigrant in The United Kingdom who is looking for a thriving and profitable business to start, then you need not look further but quickly open your own fast food restaurant.
Fast food restaurants might be seen in major locations all across The United Kingdom, but that does not mean you cannot start and build a successful fast food restaurant in The United Kingdom. It is a business that is open to fair competition especially if you are good with the meals and snacks on your menu list.
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Fintech Startup
Another thriving and profitable business opportunity an immigrant in The United Kingdom can start is fintech startup. Fintech, which is also known as financial technology, is the technology and innovation that aims to compete with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services.
It is an emerging industry that uses technology to improve activities in finance. The use of smartphones for mobile banking, investing services and cryptocurrency are examples of technologies aiming to make financial services more accessible to the general public.
Starting a fintech startup can be rewarding but you have to compete with other well – established fintech companies on the World Wide Web. The fact that you will be competing with people from all over the globe is enough reason for you to be result oriented and at the same be creative.
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Biotech Company
As a scientist and an immigrant in The United Kingdom, one of the business opportunities you can leverage on is to start your own biotech company. There are several fields that need the input of biotech companies. Fields like medicine and pharmacy, agriculture (hybrid food, bird and animal production et al.) and non-food industries (production of biodegradable plastics and bio – fuels et al).
Although some people still have their reservation when it comes to the use biotechnology in agriculture, but the fact remains that it has contributed in no small measure in the ease of cultivating crops and rearing of birds and animals.
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Hookah Bar Business
As an immigrant from Middle Eastern or Southern Asia extraction in The United Kingdom who is looking towards starting a business in The United Kingdom, one of the businesses you can start is to open a hookah bar. The hookah bar/lounge which is also known as a shisha bar or den, especially in United Kingdom, is an establishment where patrons share shisha from a communal hookah or nargile which is placed at each table.
This is a location where tobacco smokers can purchase and smoke tobacco and cigars freely without the fear of breaking the law. Businesses in this industry usually provide limited food and alcohol services as a means of increasing their revenue generation.
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Immigration Consulting Services
If you are an immigrant and a lawyer or someone who has background in immigration matters, and you intend starting your business in The United Kingdom, then you should consider starting your own immigration consulting firm. There are many migrants who are trapped in The United Kingdom simply because they don’t know who to talk to when they have challenges with immigration issues, that is why it is important to set up your own immigration attorney agency in The United Kingdom.
Immigration consultancy services in indeed a big industry in The United Kingdom and as someone who is an immigrant, you are likely to have advantage in this line of business.
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Automobile Repair Garage
Auto repair business is amongst the highly thriving and profitable easy to setup auto services related business idea an immigrant in the United Kingdom can successfully start. Car repair is one business that never goes into extinction because daily, fleets of cars are being added to the garages of people, and so whether it is a brand-new car or a fairly used one, you can be sure that sometime in the future car repair would be inevitable.
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Hard Flooring Installation Company
Hard flooring installation companies primarily engage in installing resilient flooring, carpeting, linoleum and wood or other alternatives, and prepare surfaces for the installation of flooring and floor coverings. They install a variety of materials as floors for residential, commercial, institutional and industrial building markets. The scope of jobs carried out by flooring installation companies includes new work, additions, alterations, maintenance and repairs.
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Landscaping and Lawn Care Business
Landscaping and lawn care business is one of the businesses an immigrant in The United Kingdom can start; it is an avenue to generate income especially if you already have a lawn mower, and other tools and landscaping skills. Landscaping and lawn care business is not one of those businesses that someone can start and make big money from without working pretty hard and smart.
Any entrepreneur who intends starting his or her own landscaping and lawn care business and making huge profits from it must be very creative and must be ready to go the extra mile to convince clients that he or she can deliver an excellent job and he or she must prove beyond reasonable doubt that they are competent.
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Irish Pub Business
Although it is becoming trendy in recent time, but Irish pub is a business that is as old as the bar business. Loads of people across the world are now identifying themselves with the Irish pub theme. If you are an immigrant from the Republic of Ireland and you are interested in starting a bar related business, then you should consider opening an Irish pub business especially if you live in a city in the UK that attracts tourists from all across the world. It is a business that has proven overtime to be highly successful if well – positioned.
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Educational Consultancy Business
The United Kingdom happens to be one of the most sought out countries for international students; they can boast of having some of the best universities in the world. As an immigrant in the United Kingdom, you can leverage on this business opportunity to start your own educational consultancy business and perhaps start with your countrymen and women who desire to study in the United Kingdom.
Being an educational consultant means that you will help your clients handle all their educational concerns, help to gain admission into colleges or universities of their choice. You can also help your clients obtain work permits and you get paid for such services.
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Greenhouse Commercial Farming Business
The United Kingdom is part of the developed countries of the world and a good platform to start and run a greenhouse commercial farming business. So as an immigrant to the United Kingdom, if you are looking towards starting a business, then you should look towards leveraging on the greenhouse commercial farming technology.
Greenhouses are often used for cultivating crops such as flowers, vegetables, fruits, and transplants et al. Special greenhouse varieties of certain crops, such as tomatoes, are generally used in tomatoes paste companies and for commercial production. It is fact that vegetables and flowers are grown in greenhouses in late winter and early spring, and then transplanted outside as the weather warms.
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Italian Ice Shop
If you intend starting an Italian ice cream related business as an immigrant in the UK, you are expected to launch the business is a location with the right climatic condition; a place where there is some measure of fair weather. If you make the mistake of launching an ice cream business in a city known to snow all through the calendar year, you are likely not going to make headway with such business.
If you can successfully launch an Italian ice business in the right location and if your shop is located in an area with good human and vehicular traffic, and you have different flavors of Italian ice and other ice dessert, you may not have to struggle to get people to visit your shop and make purchase.
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Junk Removal Business
Junk removal business is one of the business opportunities available in the waste management sector that an immigrant or foreigner can start in the United Kingdom. The truth is that if you settle for this business, you are sure of making huge returns from your investment. If you want to partake in this thriving industry, then you need to obtain all the necessary licenses.
The truth is that the market is pretty much open for new investors to come in. Although there are competitions at various levels in the industry, but if you are able to come up with a good business strategy, then you are sure of getting your own fair share of the available market in the industry.
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Taxi/Cab Services Company
If you live in the United Kingdom, you will agree that the immigrant communities are at the fore front in the taxi/cab services industry. As a matter of fact, 2 out of 3 taxi drivers in the United Kingdom are immigrants. This goes to show that it is a highly profitable and thriving business that an immigrant can start.
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Non – Emergency Medical Transportation Company
Another highly thriving business opportunity that an immigrant in The United Kingdom can start is non-emergency medical transportation company. The Non – Emergency Medical Transportation Services industry comprises of both private and municipal operators that basically provide transportation alongside medical care for patients either by ground or air.
It is a known fact that non – emergency medical transportation service is highly essential to disadvantaged Medicaid recipients, for the elderly, for those who have form or disability or the other and those with low incomes who have no form of transportation to access healthcare services when the need arises.
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Korean Restaurant
Aside from Chinese and Mexican restaurants, another culture niche restaurant that is highly thriving in the United Kingdom is the Korean Restaurant. There are quite a number of Korean restaurants in the United Kingdom, and you can start yours if you are interested in the business.
In essence, if you are a Korean living in the United Kingdom and you are looking towards leveraging on the vast population of Koreans in the UK to generate revenue, then one of your best options is to start a Korean Restaurant. The truth is that if you can successfully start a Korean restaurant in the United Kingdom, your clients aren’t going to be just Koreans but every other person within your location who love exploring delicacies from different parts of the world.
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Language School
Generally, players in the Language Schools industry offer language instruction ranging from conversational skills for personal enrichment to intensive training courses for career or educational opportunities. Schools teach foreign languages, sign language and English as a second language.
Please note that the Language Schools industry does not include language instruction software. English is the official language in the United Kingdom and there are migrants and students who intend working or studying in the United Kingdom who would need to first pass through a language school before they can be fully integrated into the society hence the viability and profitability of language schools in the United Kingdom.
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Locksmith Business
Another business that a foreigner or immigrant in the United Kingdom can start is locksmith business. A locksmith is indeed a profitable venture to start but you must first acquire the required training, and then work as an apprentice for a while, before applying for a locksmith license.
Although a locksmith business is considered to be a small – scale business, but it is regulated by the government to ensure that criminal elements in the society don’t take advantage of people. There are various aspects you can specialize in as a locksmith, you can specialize as a residential door locksmith, you can specialize as an automotive locksmith, or you can specialize as a safe and security locksmith.
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Open a Nano Brewery
A nano brewery is another business that an immigrant in the United Kingdom can successfully start. If you are interested in the brewery industry and you don’t have the financial capacity to launch a full-fledged brewery or even microbrewery, then your best option is to start a Nano brewery.
The truth is that starting a nanobrewery company is the shortest cut to owning your own brewery business and it affords you the opportunity to experiment with different flavors of beer that you have been crafting in your home brewery.
Experts define nanobrewery as a scaled-down microbrewery, often run by a solo entrepreneur, that produces beer in small batches. It is important to state that starting a nanobrewery business comes with its own fair share of challenges, but that does not rule out the fact that it is indeed a profitable business venture.
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Yoga and Pilates Studio Business
If you are an immigrant in the United Kingdom from Japan or from the Orient and you are a licensed and certified yoga instructor, one of the ideal businesses you can start is to open your own Yoga and Pilates studio in the United Kingdom. There is indeed a growing market for the services of Yoga and Pilates studios in the United Kingdom and you will do yourself a whole lot of favor by leveraging on this business opportunity in the United Kingdom.
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Naturopathy Clinic
Naturopathy is a complimentary medical practice that uses natural remedies to help the body heal itself. It embraces many therapies including herbs, massage, acupuncture, exercise, and nutritional counseling.
Please note that licensed and registered Naturopathic Doctors must fulfill state-mandated continuing education requirements annually and have a specific scope of practice as defined by their state’s law. The industry works hand in hand with other manual-therapy related professions such as chiropractic, massage therapy, osteopathy, and physical therapy et al.
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Rage Room
Lastly, if you are passionate about solving anger problems in people, you should think towards starting your own business. A rage room is one of the few green business ventures to start. Your aim of starting this business should be to help take the stress off people, getting them to vent their anger and making them happy.
Since the advent of the first rage room, tons of unique and interesting rage rooms have been designed and more will still be designed to fit into the concept of the business. In case you don’t know, most rage rooms start making profits within few months of establishment.