The welcoming start-up climate in Scotland
By: The Typewriter
Tags: Economy, Alpha, Bo2, British It, Opinion

Entrepreneurship probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Scotland. Having studied in the country for four years, I am convinced that a flourishing business scene should be added to its list of reasons for visiting. It feels like if you are merely considering starting your own business, you are bombarded with money and advice on every corner.

Although part of the United Kingdom, Scotland strongly maintains its own identity. This distinction is reflected in its politics, organisational focus, and importantly, education. University tuition is effectively free for EU students, which undoubtedly contributes to their choice to study at one of Scotland’s world-class universities. Thanks to the great diversity of talent and networks, Scotland is fast becoming a cosmopolitan cradle of innovative potential.

Messages which lure students to pursue their ideas and start a business are inescapable. Although many students entertain ideas about working for themselves, not all possess the entrepreneurial mindset required. Indeed, few have both the ideas and the motivation to go forward with starting their own businesses — which is where universities come into the picture.

Tertiary institutions encourage students to become entrepreneurs, and support those who want to take their idea forward. Whether through printed ads or social media, universities across Scotland constantly provide information about entrepreneurial support, competitions and events, since they are keen to see their students succeed. Free business support on all things administrative and legal has become a must.

One institution taking student entrepreneurship seriously is the University of Edinburgh, which has dedicated eight staff to their Launch.ed service offering help with everything including ideas, funding and finding business partners. From my own experience at the University of Glasgow, I can say that just one staff member responsible for student entrepreneurship can make a huge difference. It is not uncommon for first- or second-year students to start and run their own businesses and even hire their own interns!

University enterprise officers work in cooperation with larger organisations that operate on campuses, the most prominent being the Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE), which organises large entrepreneurial competitions, workshops and events. One of the best things about these is how little is required to enter — for instance, in the SIE Young Innovators’ Challenge, participants only need a brief description of an idea, and how it would benefit society, to have a decent chance of winning £100.

If that doesn’t motivate people to make the first entrepreneurial step then I don’t know what does — perhaps only that as many as thirty entrants can win £2000 to work on their innovations, or that £5000 is waiting for the overall winner. A notable past winner is the rapidly-growing Mallzee, which has managed to grow from a tiny startup into a successful business fundraising hundreds of thousands of pounds and being named “one of the 6 apps changing shopping forever” by Yahoo.

I think it’s brilliant that people who haven’t yet set up their own business or don’t even have an idea are more than welcome to take part in the workshops and events, such as the SIE Boot Camp or Annual Summit, and surround themselves with like-minded people. These events are great even if you just want to find a job in Scotland, because you can always meet young entrepreneurs on the lookout for people with specific skills.

Of course, there are many other Scottish startup support organisations. To illustrate the plurality of support networks available, just at SIE and University of Glasgow campus events I came across Entrepreneurial Spark, Scottish Enterprise, Business Gateway, Young Enterprise Scotland, Bridge2Business, WeDO, Entrepreneurial Scotland and Enterprise First, all of which provide a combination of funding, networks and business advice.

The available support can not only make your startup walk the first baby steps — it can teach it to run a marathon.

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Business competitions like the Converge Challenge offer tens of thousands of pounds to winners to develop their businesses further. Add the possibility of applying for funding to the abovementioned organisations, a plethora of startup accelerators such as the Y Combinator, and fundraising platforms like Indiegogo or Kickstarter, and you have a potent mix for success. Of course, none of these competitive endeavours come without hard work; if it’s effortless achievement you desire, entrepreneurship isn’t for you.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the support is the access to entrepreneurial networks. After all, half of building a business is knowing people. While LinkedIn can connect you to anyone and help you develop a brand, it is even better to meet mentors, peers and experienced businessmen in person through established networks set up by one of the organisations.

Events like the Annual Summit allow you to hear from and meet exceptional, inspirational entrepreneurs. Attending the events alongside ambitious and intelligent people who are passionate about what they do and determined to succeed is a truly motivating experience.

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Even though I haven’t got the experience to compare Scotland to other countries in terms of start-up support, I strongly believe that Scotland’s people-culture makes it unique. I have found everyone in the country, Scottish or not, to be very friendly and always ready to help — and frankly, this behaviour is quite contagious.

This culture of friendliness is something I will definitely take with me wherever I go. I think that if more Slovak professionals and public officials got to spend time in Scotland, my home country would be a much better place to live.