Britain’s markets attracting generation of highly educated entrepreneurs

Brixton, London. Data from Kerb, a street food collective, reveals almost three-quarters of its founders have university degrees, including one in four with postgraduate qualifications. Photograph: Imageplotter Travel/Alamy View image in fullscreen Brixton, London. Data from Kerb, a street food collective, reveals almost three-quarters of its founders have university degrees, including one in four with postgraduate qualifications. Photograph: Imageplotter Travel/Alamy Britain’s markets attracting generation of highly educated entrepreneurs Nearly a quarter of market traders now hold master’s degree, PhD or medical doctorate, research shows One in five young market traders now holds a master’s degree, PhD or medical doctorate, according to exclusive figures shared with the Guardian, in a sign of how Britain’s markets are attracting an unexpected new generation of highly educated entrepreneurs. Separate data from Kerb, the street food collective behind some of London’s best-known food markets, points in the same direction. Almost three-quarters of its founders have university degrees, including one in four with postgraduate qualifications. About 95% work in their businesses full-time rather than treating them as weekend side hustles. The figures show the graduates behind the stalls include solicitors, architects, bankers, nurses and PhD students. Joe Harrison, the chief executive of the National Market Traders Federation (NMTF), which carried out the research, said: “These aren’t side hustles: these are young, highly educated people looking to build full-time careers in the markets; people who wouldn’t previously have even thought of becoming a market trader.” View image in fullscreen Wiktoria Anna has a master’s degree in law and left her career as a solicitor to run her art business full-time. Photograph: Wiktoria Anna Harrison said the change had happened in the past two to three years. “I was pleasantly shocked by the figures: this is a striking development,” he said. “Up until now, young traders have mostly been school leavers and hobby businesses. Professional people who came into market trading were mostly in their 50s, often after redundancy.” He puts the change down to the changing nature of work. “These are young people who’ve gone through university – often to the highest level – but then looked at the uncertain jobs market and decided to take things into their own hands,” he said. “Market trading offers a wealth of entrepreneurial, AI-proof opportunities.” Among the young people is 29-year-old Wiktoria Anna, who completed a master’s degree in law and qualified as a solicitor in 2022 – but left the profession one year later to build a full-time business selling watercolour paintings, prints and workshops through markets. “I’d achieved the career that I’d chosen at 17 and worked towards for years, but by the time I qualified I realised it was no longer the life I wanted,” she said. “I missed creativity, the freedom to make things and the