Entex and Saltire Foundation forge tie-up

Two organisations helping to drive business creation are joining forces to create a more powerful body that will take greater account of entrepreneurialism in the public and third sectors.

ES is for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs  Tom Hunter. Picture: Ian Rutherford

The Saltire Foundation and the networking group Entrepreneurial Exchange (Entex) are to merge to form Entrepreneurial Scotland (ES) and will represent businesses with more than £17 billion of turnover and 150,000 employees.

The new entity aims to “join the dots” on the entrepreneurial landscape and take their joint aims to the next stage of development.

Scottish tycoon Sir Tom Hunter, who was instrumental in the creation of Entex in 1995, said: “This move will enable an accelerated drive to build Scotland’s entrepreneurial community in a strategic, well thought out move that is for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, an ethos that serves Scotland well.”

The Saltire Foundation was created by leading GlobalScots to help develop Scotland’s next generation of business leaders.

Chris van der Kuyl, chairman of Entex and chairman designate of ES, said: “By combining our strengths, we build strategic linkage between the talent Saltire enables and the expertise our businesses need. Not only that, by building on Saltire’s global connectivity we will extend out the great work of GlobalScot in delivering strategic linkages for Scottish business.”

He said there was a need to break down the “mythical notion” that entrepreneurship is only about building business.

“Intrapreneurship in government, education and social enterprise is fundamental to Scotland’s future growth and prosperity and we aim to engage actively on that agenda,” he said.

ES will be a non-profit, non-partisan organisation with a charitable subsidiary – the Saltire Foundation.

Sandy Kennedy, chief executive of Saltire, takes on the same role at ES while John Anderson, chief executive of Entex, becomes chairman of the awards programme and special adviser to the board of ES. Anderson also joins the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship at Strathclyde university in a senior role.