Tag: business

Funding to prepare for Brexit

Grants for Scottish businesses expanded

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced £2 million is now available to help even more businesses in Scotland prepare for Brexit.

The Brexit Support Grant, administered by Scottish Enterprise, will now be available to help small and medium sized businesses manage a wide range of Brexit impacts with funding of up to £4000 each. The grant, previously only open to exporters, is now available to SME’s in Scotland for a wider variety of Brexit preparation.

The grant can be accessed by businesses employing up to 250 staff and can be used for activities including consultancy support, professional fees, external training, and international market research.

The announcement was made during a visit to Allied Vehicles in Glasgow where the First Minister met with the company and one of their suppliers, the manufacturing firm William Johnston, to discuss concerns about Brexit and how the two businesses are preparing.

The First Minister said: “Businesses like Allied Vehicles and William Johnston are critical to Scotland’s economy and it is unacceptable that they are facing this level of uncertainty so close to the UK leaving the EU.

“The Scottish Government is firmly opposed to Brexit and we continue to hope that it can be avoided, but with every passing day, the UK Government is getting closer to taking our economy off the cliff.

“Scottish Government analysis shows that all Brexit outcomes will damage our economy so it is essential businesses prepare for a range of scenarios. This funding goes hand in hand with practical support and advice and I encourage business to take advantage of this assistance.

“We will continue to work with our partners in the coming weeks and months to do what we can to minimise the impact Brexit will have on our economy and communities.”

Sandy McEwan, Managing Director at William Johnston & Company, and one of the first businesses to apply for the grant, said: “Since Brexit was announced in 2016, we have been hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

“As a manufacturer we have found the Prepare for Brexit website a helpful tool for highlighting some of the issues Brexit may bring our business. Today, we are in the eye of the Brexit storm but, hopefully, this grant will help us to be in the best position possible to deal with the potential changes in the business environment.”

Allied Vehicles chairman Gerry Facenna said: “Exporting can be a real challenge for us, given currency differences and much higher transport costs than our continental competitors.

“Despite this, over the past couple of years we’ve started to gain significant traction selling our wheelchair accessible vehicles across Europe.

“We see huge potential to add another hundred or more jobs here in Glasgow through continued export growth – but the last thing we need is any form of trade barriers or tariffs, which would make it virtually impossible for us to compete effectively overseas.”

Steve Dunlop, CEO, Scottish Enterprise, said: “It is critical that Scottish businesses continue to assess the challenges presented by Brexit and take necessary action to safeguard their growth.

“Preparing your business for Brexit is about developing a flexible planning approach so you can adapt and be resilient across a range of potential Brexit outcomes. We are stepping up support with additional financial and people resource to make sure businesses have access to support that will help them meet challenges head on.”

Businesses can identify if they are eligible for the grant and find more information on how to prepare for Brexit on the Prepare for Brexit website.

The Brexit Support Grant, previously ‘International Project Support’, is now available to SMEs who do not export as well as exporters, and can be used for a much wider variety of Brexit preparation.

The Brexit Support Grant fund is £2 million – £500,000 in the 2018/19 financial year and £1.5 million in 2019/20.

An SME is an enterprise employing fewer than 250 persons with an annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euro, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euro and is independent.

 

Brexit, what Brexit?: Scottish business confidence continues to grow, says Bank of Scotland

Bank of Scotland’s Business Barometer for February 2019 shows:

  • Overall confidence for firms in Scotland rose four points in the past month to five per cent
  • Firms’ confidence in their own business prospects was 17 per cent, compared with three per cent in January

Continue reading Brexit, what Brexit?: Scottish business confidence continues to grow, says Bank of Scotland

Mentor plan for female entrepreneurs

Help to succeed in business

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced £100,000 of new funding for an initiative aimed at driving entrepreneurship among females in Scotland.

The Scottish Chamber of Commerce will partner with the Scottish Association of Business Women to deliver the ‘Future Female Business Leaders’ programme.

The programme draws on Chambers’ skill and experience in connecting entrepreneurs with established business mentors who will provide them with direct support.

It will offer women help as they move into leadership roles, and includes an element to help to stimulate ‘internationalisation’of Scottish business.

Speaking at the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce ‘Women in Business’ lunch, the First Minister said: “Helping more women to set up and succeed in business is both an economic and a moral imperative. By encouraging and supporting women to create and grow businesses, we can create greater equality which in turn builds a stronger and fairer economy.

“The Scottish Chambers represent more than 11,000 companies across the country with a pool of over 1,000 mentors dispersed widely across Scotland. We have invested nearly £400,000 this year on projects to support female entrepreneurship, which includes the Chambers’ Future Female Business Leaders programme.

“It is a scheme which will help some of the next generation of women business leaders as they start their careers. And it will also – if my experiences are anything to go by – provide enlightenment and inspiration for the mentors.

“One of the things that I decided to do as an individual two years ago was to become a mentor to a young woman. It is incredibly valuable to share experiences and insights with people from different backgrounds and with different perspectives.”

Dr Liz Cameron, OBE, Chief Executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, welcomed the announcement. “This is a perfect example of playing to the strengths and connectivity of both the public and private sector.

“It is an economic priority to ensure that we create an infrastructure which will unlock the outstanding opportunities which exist for females in the workplace enabling more of us to progress to the very top. It will also be a beacon for others to follow, and at the same time, increase the number of successful businesses run by women to grow and expand their businesses.

“Mentoring will be integral to our focus, but it will be in wider terms of bringing together business leaders and other organisations who want to play a role in this development. We are also excited at bringing in an international dimension, identifying potentially new connections and new orders.”

Liz McAreavey, chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: “A drive to support more women to succeed in business is not just morally right, but also proven to generate better performance for businesses.

“More women on boards and in senior positions leads to better innovation, improved sales revenues and margins and increased satisfaction and productivity. For example, McKinsey reports that gender diverse companies are 15 per cent more likely to have financial returns above their national median.

“There is no doubt workplace equality and fairness equals improved business performance. I am delighted with the extra measures announced by the First Minister today and we will work with all engaged parties to ensure they benefit as many women as possible.”

 

SPRINT programme launched in Scotland

Launched at DATA.SPACE 2019, Scottish businesses can access funded UK university expertise to drive commercial product development
A new programme has been launched to help Scottish SMEs access funded support up to £90,000 for the expertise, data and technology from five of the UK’s top space universities.

The SPRINT (SPace Research and Innovation Network for Technology) programme provides unprecedented access to university space expertise and facilities to help businesses develop new commercial products for space and other key sectors.

The new, £5 million SPRINT programme is supported by Research England and the Scottish Funding Council. It is being delivered by a consortium of five of the UK’s leading space universities, led by the University of Leicester and including the University of Edinburgh, Open University, University of Southampton and University of Surrey.

The programme will support UK small to medium enterprises in the innovation and development of new space-enabled technologies, services and applications, helping them to enter the growing space sector with existing and new products, and using technologies or data from space to innovate products for their markets.

The SPRINT programme was launched in Scotland at DATA.SPACE 2019, the information conference of the new space revolution, held from 24-25 January 2019 in Glasgow.

Professor Iain Woodhouse, Professor of Applied Earth Observation; Head of Geography and the Lived Environment Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh said: “The University is proud to be a SPRINT partner to support Scottish businesses developing commercial products for space and other key sectors.

“We bring to SPRINT a research heritage in advancing the use of satellite and geospatial data for the development of downstream services of space. We are also developing geo-data science techniques for integration of EO data from satellites, ground sensors, high-altitude platforms, drones and UAVsAt space data.”

Robin Sampson, Founder of Trade in Space Ltd, developing technologies to enable asset securitisation based on satellite imagery said: “We’re delighted to make contact with the SPRINT network and look forward to further engagement and access to Earth Observation expertise, especially through this initiative.”

Steve Greenland, Founder and CEO of Craft Prospect Ltd, a Glasgow-based space engineering practice said: “Craft Prospect has engaged with the SPRINT programme and received great support to investigate potential collaboration projects.

“As a small business, having a single point of contact allows us a greater awareness of cutting edge research within UK universities. We are now evaluating and prioritising how best to move forward.”

Dr Ross Burgon, Head of the SPRINT Programme at the University of Leicester added: “We launched the SPRINT programme at this year’s DATA.SPACE event and it was very well received by the Scottish space sector.

“We’re now working closely with our partner universities in Scotland, the University of Edinburgh and the Open University to explore with SMEs how SPRINT can to support their business growth through the exploitation of space data and technologies.”

For more information on the SPRINT programme, visit https://sprintnetwork.space

 

 

From Scotland to Canada: Burns night boost for haggis exports

Scots around the world celebrate Burns Night

Tonight, Scots in Canada will be celebrating Burns Night with a hearty serving of haggis, thanks to the rise in exports from Scotland’s largest producer of the iconic meat pudding. Continue reading From Scotland to Canada: Burns night boost for haggis exports

Edinburgh firms hit for an additional £7,653,000 a year by SNP’s “high-tax agenda”

Businesses in Edinburgh have been hit by an additional £7,653,000 thanks to the doubling of the large business rate supplement by the SNP, according to the Scottish Conswevatives. Continue reading Edinburgh firms hit for an additional £7,653,000 a year by SNP’s “high-tax agenda”

Edinburgh to benefit from a new collaborative business initiative

A new business launched yesterday (22nd November) which will create the first network of Open Innovation Centres (OICs) across the UK. The OICs will boost innovation and knowledge exchange practices for businesses and regions. Continue reading Edinburgh to benefit from a new collaborative business initiative