Delivering entrepreneurship training and support

Abstract

This article briefly reviews my role in delivering entrepreneurship training and support in north-east Scotland. I run an organisation dedicated to the support of new and existing entrepreneurs throughout the northeast of Scotland. This support sees the establishment of 1800 new businesses every year. The work is exciting and hugely rewarding as we recycle knowledge, understanding and experiences amongst those we work with. We have ‘seen it all’, as the saying goes. Our task is to assist fledging entrepreneurs around common mistakes and help them achieve success. We have formed opinions along the way as to what is needed to maximise the economic upside of firstly creating more entrepreneurs, and secondly supporting the growth of ones with ambition and potential. Key learning principles are identified that we have applied in our organisation to achieve three objectives: how to stimulate more entrepreneurial activity; how to minimise early stage entrepreneurial mortality; and how to identify the key barriers that prevent business growth.