Scale-up Scotland, a programme designed to address Scotland’s business scale-up challenge and deliver economic growth, officially launched this week in Aberdeen spearheaded by one of Scotland’s leading entrepreneurs, Bob Keiller.
The programme – for Scotland’s high-growth businesses – has been created by Entrepreneurial Scotland in partnership with The Hunter Foundation and Scotland Can Do.
Scale-up Scotland is being delivered by Entrepreneurial Scotland to address Scotland’s business growth challenge. The programme aims to do this by empowering entrepreneurs to share their experiences and develop the skills needed to successfully tackle the challenges associated with scaling.
The ambitious 18-month programme differs from others as it will be delivered largely by entrepreneurs. The programme focuses on cohort study, strong peer-to-peer learning opportunities and is backed by world class academic rigour. It has been designed so that participants can continue to run their businesses while on the programme committing to 1.5 days every eight weeks to attend a series of action orientated masterclasses throughout the country.
Chief Executive of Entrepreneurial Scotland, Sandy Kennedy, said:
“We know that in comparison to other countries not enough businesses in Scotland are scaling. We also know that entrepreneurs want to learn from those that have been there and done it and they are looking for practical tools that they can implement into their own businesses.
“What makes Scale-up Scotland different is that it is entrepreneurially led and delivered in an exciting and dynamic way that is appealing to entrepreneurs.”
Bob Keiller, who led the first entrepreneur led masterclass at the Gordon Highlanders Museum in Aberdeen, said:
“Over the years I’ve discovered tools and processes that work in business and now I am able to pass that knowledge on and help other businesses find their own ‘eureka’ moment. If we can support entrepreneurs by sharing our own entrepreneurial experiences to stimulate their ambition and grow their organisations then we really will have an entrepreneurial Scotland.”
The world-class Scale-up Scotland programme is ready to provide a game changing opportunity for the debut cohort of 19 Scottish businesses that have demonstrated existing customer traction, a clear line of sight to significant profitability, exceptional leadership potential and the commitment necessary to scale up their businesses.
The businesses accepted onto the programme range across several sectors including: communications, technology, security, beauty, the care sector, digital, mobile, medical, construction, design and manufacturing.
Scale-up Scotland is fully funded and participants will need to demonstrate continual development of themselves and their organisation throughout the programme. The 2018 programme will guide the entrepreneurs through the key areas of scaling including: leadership, finance, building the right team, communications, sales and marketing, globalisation, crisis management and governance.
Scale-up Scotland is part of the Scotland CanDo Scale Movement. The Scotland CanDo Movement is a collaboration of the key organisations across the private and public sector committed to support the leaders of innovative firms who have the ambition to grow significantly and with pace. By doing so together, the evidence suggests that we can generate material economic growth, improve productivity, create jobs and wealth across Scotland.
Further details of the programme and how to apply for future cohorts can be found at www.scaleupscotland.co.uk
Look out for the full list of companies on this cohort in next week’s SBNN.
