Business is booming for Scotland’s only matchmaker with the number of lonely hearts looking for love rocketing by more than 350% in the last six months.
The biggest rise in enquiries is from men aged 30-45, up by more than 520% and there is currently a waiting list of applicants.
Laura Smyth, 34, a former headhunter and recruitment consultant established the agency after realising her single friends were struggling to date and fed-up swiping right or left looking for the ideal match. There was a tradition of matchmaking in her native Ireland but Laura, who was then living in Scotland, discovered a gap in the market here.
With plenty of previous success linking the right candidate to the perfect job, she applied her career skills to the dating game and since then has been on a mission to bring dating back into the real world, taking it offline and face to face instead.
And the initiative is proving an attractive proposition for more and more singletons: turnover has tripled in the past year.
Laura has also been nominated for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the WeDo Scottish Business Awards to be announced at a black-tie event in Edinburgh on November 5, and she’s been accepted for the RBS Accelerator programme which helps entrepreneurs scale their businesses to the next level.
“The idea has really taken off and interest is increasing incrementally month on month,“ says Laura. “People are realising that the ease of swiping and the vast choice out there online does not necessarily add up to tangible success, particularly among men.
“They account for 85% of online dating app users in the UK and one study showed they only get a match 0.6% of the time. Whereas matchmaking starts with a personal consultation, so I have a really good idea of their personality, their ideals and standards, and I will know if someone on our books will be a good match.
“Many of our clients are established business professionals. They come to us because they are seriously engaged in looking for a suitable partner and happy to invest in their love life.
“They don’t believe that their ideal person would be on an app and they are attracted to the agency because there is a greater element of safety as we vet applicants, check their photographs are truly representative and confirm their single status.
“For us – and them – it’s not about screens or algorithms, it’s about authenticity, honesty and integrity.”
Thanks to Match Made in Scotland Laura has already found success with Cupid’s arrow in her own love life – she’s engaged to a former boyfriend she re-connected with through the agency and they are planning their wedding next year.
As a result Laura, who set up Match Made in Scotland two years ago, is on a recruitment drive seeking additional potential cupids to help her keep up with demand.
Prospective matchmakers must be intuitive, kind, empathetic and work with integrity and honesty. They also need to have an extensive network of contacts, a background in business development and an entrepreneurial spirit.
“Our clients don’t have the time nor the inclination to use online dating apps,” says Laura. “This role of professional matchmaker is to make the matching process run as smoothly as possible and provide excellent customer service. It’s a fantastic opportunity for someone to help shape the future of our business and the needs of our growing client list.”
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