Launch of Scale-up Scotland, ‘the programme by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs’ 

LegalTech firm Amiqus ID, mobile marketing company Digitonic, and data architect specialists DOGFI.SH Mobile are among the 19 start-ups selected for Scale-up Scotland, ‘the programme by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs’.

The programme – for Scotland’s high-growth businesses – has been created by Entrepreneurial Scotland, in partnership with The Hunter Foundation and Scotland Can Do. It is being delivered by Entrepreneurial Scotland to address the country’s business growth challenge. It focuses on cohort study, peer-to-peer learning, and is backed by academic rigour.

Entrepreneurial Scotland chief executive, Sandy Kennedy, said: “We know that in comparison with 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 this week, 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.”

Keillier, chairman of Scottish Enterprise and former chief executive of the Wood Group, added: “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.”

Businesses accepted onto the programme range across several sectors, including communications, technology, security, beauty, the care sector, digital, mobile, medical, construction, design and manufacturing.

The 2018 programme will guide the entrepreneurs through the key areas of scaling, such as 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, a collaboration of 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.