Brighton and Hove has become a magnet for thousands of foreign people moving here to start a business.

A total of 2,915 firms have been started here by those born outside the UK, new research shows.

The report by the Centre for Entrepreneurs and business data firm DueDil claims one in seven businesses now created in the UK are founded by residents born overseas.

And the entrepreneurial zeal burns brighter within migrant communities, with individuals twice as likely to start their own business as UK-born residents.

Brighton and Hove was named in the top 10 locations for 33 different nationalities, indicating the rich diversity of the city’s business community.

The city has business founders from six continents.

Germany supplied the city with the most entrepreneurs at 420, while French-born job creators accounted for 392 new businesses.

The city has the second highest number of Australian entrepreneurs in the country at 365 and the second-highest of Spanish-born, 165.

Other business owners include those from Israel, Ecuador and Hungary.

JP Omari first came to study international business at the University of Brighton from Rome in 1999 and after four years of study he decided he wanted to stay to become one of 337 Italian-born entrepreneurs in the city.

After working for South East Dance, he set up his own hip hop dance company.

Streetfunk currently has 400 students, hires four teachers and six young coaches and has recently expanded into a new studio in Brighton Marina.

He said: “I am not surprised there are that many, Italy’s economy is a mess.

“Life is really hard there, people are committing suicide because they haven’t been able to afford taxes or because their shop has closed.

“More and more people are trying to make a new life elsewhere and why not in Brighton, which is a beautiful place?

“I would not have been able to do my job and go and teach dance in primary and secondary schools in Italy because of the attitude to extra-curricular activities, there is no way they would let me teach dance in class.”

Elif Kose came to Rottingdean in 2007 as an au pair to improve her English skills.

She had been working in Turkey in the textiles industry but realised she had to improve her English to get ahead, although six months studying at a top US school had not helped as she surrounded herself with Turkish friends.

She started a mobile alteration shop a year after arriving in Sussex, opening her first shop in 2009 and a second shop last year.

She now has ambitious plans for a bespoke wedding dress firm and hopes to expand into London in the upcoming years.

She said: “There are a lot of successful Turkish business people in Brighton, five different Turkish restaurants have opened up in the city recently.

“I think it is part of our character, we don’t want to work for other people, we like to be our own boss.”