Ana Stewart, Scotland’s Chief Entrepreneur, has today announced her three priorities to deliver for Scotland’s most ambitious companies.
Calling for a sharper focus on rapidly scaling firms, Stewart will prioritise three main goals.
Firstly, she will focus on fostering closer engagement with founders and the private sector by launching Scotland’s largest annual startup and scaleup survey, as well as working directly with entrepreneurs to shape services around their needs.
Second, she will establish tailored support for scaleups by designing interventions that support scaleups to access new talent, capital, and markets.
Finally, the chief entrepreneur will aim to create better measurements for performance and impact by introducing consistent reporting to track progress, providing a transparent picture of Scotland’s entrepreneurial health.
This builds on progress already delivered this year, including multi-year backing for Scottish EDGE, the launch of Dealroom Scotland, and ongoing investment in implementing Stewart’s Pathways report supporting more women to start and scale businesses.
The priorities were announced at the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Conference at the University of Strathclyde’s Technology and Innovation Centre in Glasgow, where Ana Stewart took part in a keynote session with Professor Eleanor Shaw OBE and Sir Tom Hunter.
“Scotland has made real progress towards becoming a first-rate startup nation,” Ana Stewart said.
“That foundation is essential – without a strong pipeline of promising new companies, there can be no scaleups. The next stage is to ensure these firms have the support they need to break through and grow at pace. That is a critical pathway to becoming a leading entrepreneurial economy.
“We have to ‘follow our founders’, supporting them from the spark of a new idea right through to rapid international growth. Scotland has world-class entrepreneurs, and many are the economy’s unsung heroes. We should celebrate and acknowledge their achievements whilst making sure nothing holds them back from growing.
Recommended reading
“Our entrepreneurs have the talent and ambition to compete on the world stage. Our job is to remove barriers, connect them with the right support, and make Scotland one of the best HQs to build and scale a business. That is my aspiration.”
Kate Forbes, Deputy First Minister, said: “Scotland can be proud of the progress made in recent years in building one of Europe’s fastest-growing entrepreneurial economies. That success is down to the talent and drive of our founders, alongside the support of many partners across the ecosystem.
“Ana Stewart’s plans will take that progress to the next level by focusing on how we help more of our companies to grow. Her emphasis on working closely with founders and listening to their needs is exactly the right approach and the Scottish Government is fully committed to backing her vision.”
Related