Committed to entrepreneurs
5 Jun 2014 04:38 PM
Over £1 million invested in supporting women
and young people.
Innovative schemes
to encourage both women and young people to develop new businesses are
benefitting from over £1 million from the Scottish Government.
The Young
Innovators Challenge, Young EDGE and the Women’s Enterprise Framework are
among the programmes to have received funding from the Scottish Government. In
all, schemes focussed on female and youth entrepreneurship will receive a total
of at least £1,035,000 in the period to March 2016.
Cabinet Secretary
for Training, Youth and Women’s Employment Angela Constance led a debate
in the Scottish Parliament and will outline the Scottish Government’s
commitment to making Scotland a world-leading entrepreneurial nation and
ensuring there are no barriers to taking up entrepreneurial
opportunities.
She said:
“Entrepreneurs are the innovators of the business world, the individuals
that can turn a simple idea into a viable project, in turn leading to economic
growth. To encourage a spirit of entrepreneurship in Scotland, we must ensure
there is support in place to encourage these creative minds to come
forward.
“The
Scottish Government is determined to support such a climate, with a range of
schemes receiving over £1 million funding for this year and
next.
“Recent job
figures have shown a real boost for women in employment, and it is encouraging
to see greater numbers of women coming through our business incubator schemes
but we must not lose sight of the fact that a disproportionately low number of
small to medium sized-enterprises are female-led, and that less than a third of
self-employed people are women.
“Research by
the Hunter Centre has shown that if women's participation rates matched
men's, it could also boost the economy by as much as five per cent, which
equates to £7.6 billion.
“It is also
crucial that now more than ever, our young people are able to realise their
economic potential. We are determined to see more young people starting their
own businesses in Scotland and our funding for Young EDGE, the Young
Innovator’s Challenge and the dynamic ventures they foster underlines our
commitment to helping young people successfully step into the world of
business.”
Notes To
Editors
The Scottish
Government has funded the following:
- Power of
Youth - £40,000 over two years (this and next)
- Young
EDGE - £300,000 over two years
- Investing
Women - £50,000 (last year and this)
- Bridge 2
Business – up to £300,000 this year
- We are
The Future! - £70,000 over two years (this and next)
- Young
Innovator’s Challenge - £205,000
- Women in
Enterprise Framework - £70,000 over two years