Hunt for Scotland’s most enterprising place

The search for Scotland’s most enterprising place is now on. The Enterprising Britain 2010 competition, managed in Scotland by Scottish Enterprise on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, rewards those cities, villages, towns and neighbourhoods that have tackled the economic downturn head on and are successfully creating jobs, boosting local business and nurturing entrepreneurial talent as the UK emerges from the recession.

Last year, Glasgow’s Local Regeneration Agency (LRA) was named Scotland’s most enterprising place. Glasgow has transformed itself from a position of industrial decline to a modern vibrant city recognised for economic growth. The LRA has developed two city-wide projects to tackle a lack of enterprise activity in the city’s deprived communities: Enterprise Development in Glasgow’s Communities, and The Social Economy Project.

Enterprise Development aims to embed a culture of entrepreneurship in the city. New businesses are encouraged to form through intensive one-to-one support during the start-up process. Access to finance and aftercare support is provided for up to three years to aid business sustainability. In addition, specialist support is available such as e-commerce advice and assistance with environmental sustainability. 

The Social Economy Project encourages new and existing social enterprises and voluntary organisations. It provides tailored organisational development activity as well as tackling a range of local priorities through the Social Enterprise Practitioners Network, Community Knowledge Centre, Wider Action Engagement and Sector Specific Initiatives. 

Together these projects in their first 9 months assisted over 900 individuals and organisations, created 116 enterprises and 195 jobs. 

Physical regeneration has also been addressed, with the renovation and redevelopment of the former Govan Police Station at Orkney Street. The careful restoration of the building, which includes the cell block, will provide high quality accommodation for local social enterprises and community advice agencies.

Future plans include Enterprise Awareness Raising events throughout the city particularly focussed on disadvantaged groups such as the disabled, young people, ethnic minorities and lone parents.

The Enterprising Britain competition has been running since 2005. This year is the first time it has expanded to five categories which are: Enterprise Culture, Driving Entrepreneurial Skills, Business Support and Start-up, Global Entrepreneurship, and Social Cohesion. Organisations can enter any or all of the categories and regional winners go on to the national finals later in the year. To mark the launch of Enterprising Britain, Lord Davies, Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Small Business visited last year’s winner, Lowestoft in the East of England to discover how it succeeded in reducing disadvantage by encouraging enterprising activity and self-employment.

Lord Davies said: “Entrepreneurship was crucial to moving the economy back into growth and our future prosperity also rests on encouraging talented Britons to develop their ideas.

“Enterprising Britain is a great opportunity to showcase communities who have come together to build better futures and inspire others to follow their example.”

The Enterprising Britain competition is a key part of the UK Government’s drive to create the right conditions for enterprise across the UK. It seeks out areas which have embedded a culture of supporting and encouraging their entrepreneurs and businesses.

Linda Hanna, director of Enterprise at Scottish Enterprise said: “Entering the Enterprising Britain competition is Scotland’s opportunity to highlight what we’ve achieved, and help other organisations and communities to learn from our successes. 

“I would urge all the innovative projects in Scotland that have used entrepreneurial spirit to transform their areas to enter the competition.”

Previous winners from Scotland include Heart of Hawick in 2008, Edinburgh Science Triangle in 2007 and West Kilbride Craft and Design Town in 2006.

In 2006, West Kilbride Craft and Design Town was chosen as the overall UK winner of Enterprising Britain 2006 because of the way it had gone about revitalising its centre, making it a focus for niche retailing and attracting visitors to the town. The national judges were particularly impressed by the strong sense of team spirit and local involvement surrounding the project, and the fact that the project found its Unique Selling Point right from the start.

Enterprising Britain is free to enter and is open to all organisations that are working in partnership to create an enterprising place. The place can be a town, a city, a parish or a neighbourhood and organisations must demonstrate that enterprise is central to the economic and/or social transformation of the place.

To register interest, email your contact details to enterprisingbritain@enterpriseuk.org. Entries must be submitted by 31 May 2010 and the winner will be announced in October 2010. 

Application forms can be downloaded from www.enterpriseuk.org/enterprisingbritain