Nominations open for Entrepreneurial Scotland awards

Nominations opened today for Entrepreneurial Scotland's annual Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, which are now in their 21st year.

Entrepreneurial Scotland chief Sandy Kennedy with David Mitchell of Deloitte, SWG3's Andrew Fleming Brown and Jamie Grant of Barclays. Picture: Graeme Hunter

The accolades are delivered in association with Deloitte and new partner Barclays, and the ceremony in November moves to new event space SWG3 in Glasgow.

Sandy Kennedy, chief executive of Entrepreneurial Scotland, said it is “committed to shining a light on the most outstanding entrepreneurial talent in the country”.

• READ MORE: Entrepreneurial Scotland opens to new intake

The launch of the awards came as a new report found that almost half of Scottish schoolchildren want to start a business when they grow up, but more needs to be done to translate this into real-life businesses.

Barclays Business Banking found that 49 per cent of Scottish schoolchildren aged eight to 16 want to launch their own business when they grow up, compared to the UK national average of 42 per cent.

However, given that only 6 per cent of UK entrepreneurs are aged 25 or under, there has been a call for more action to tap into a sector worth an additional £23.3 billion to the UK economy by 2025.

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Stuart Brown, head of SME Scotland at Barclays, said it was “no surprise that Scotland, with its rich history of innovation, has a generation of ambitious entrepreneurs waiting in the wings”, but the right tools and resources are required.

He added: “We’re calling on the rest of the industry and government to get behind the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

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