TONIGHT more than 300 entrepreneurs will come together at the Entrepreneur of the Year awards. I’ll be there to help celebrate their ambition and to hear about their tales of success.
Looking down the list of finalists, I was pleased to see that three out of nine are supported by the scaling account management team at Scottish Enterprise.
QTS, Balmoral Group and Spark Energy are some of the 60 scaling companies we work with.
Scaling has something of a buzz word in recent times and the definition will differ depending on whom you speak to.
The impact that scaling companies make to our economy is substantial and our collective focus on scaling represents one of the biggest opportunities for Scotland’s economy.
Therefore we need to be be clear about what it is and and we must do more of it. At Scottish Enterprise, we consider a true scaling company to be one with an annual turnover of over £10 million, but with the capability and ambition to grow rapidly to a turnover of £100m and beyond over the next couple of years.
The company needs to have a leader who dreams big and knows that their product or service has the potential to do much more.
While going from £10m to £100m in a relatively short period of time may seem like an entrepreneurial dream, the reality is that these rapid periods of growth can make or break a company.
A distinct approach and support system is required to encourage and enable these companies to grow and achieve scale. Scaling companies are typically already successful but are focused on developing globally in new markets.
This requires agile strategies and they often need changes in leadership style as the business evolves.
Alongside this, a restructuring of the business, its supporting infrastructure and processes is undertaken, together with forming new partnerships, identifying potential acquisitions and ensuring the company has the right funding model to support significant growth.
As you can imagine, it is an intensive period of change for the company and requires intensive levels of support. Sometimes when looking outwards, leadership forgets to look and invest inward and, in doing so, may find itself in troubled times. That’s why leadership development is a crucial part of the support Scottish Enterprise offers to scale up companies.
It is part of a wider, flexible and tailored service that also includes advice on attracting relevant investment, business restructuring, identifying potential acquisitions, access to world-class strategic retreats, coaching programmes and peer-to-peer support between the companies.
Our ambitions match those of the companies we work with. Scottish Enterprise has already identified and is supporting more than 60 scaling companies and we plan to make this grow to 100 by 2018.
There is growth potential everywhere, which is evident when you look at the variety of the nominees for this evening’s awards.
The Balmoral Group, for instance, has a range of products and services from subsea flotation devices to property development.
The leadership team in The Balmoral Group has been heavily involved in leadership development programmes.
This has helped to prepare the group for innovating and diversifying.
Through the past 10 years the group’s revenues have climbed from £32m to £136m each year and employee numbers have almost doubled.
Helping companies like this realise and achieve their potential is at the heart of what we do. We are keen to work collectively with those in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to help raise and realise Scotland’s growth ambitions.
The impact of these companies goes far beyond their own balance sheets and the sectors they operate in; they are helping Scotland to build a stronger and more equal economy.
Research shows that Scottish scale-up companies contribute a combined turnover of £12.5 billion to the overall economy through job creation and economic growth.
Scottish Enterprise, along with other partners and stakeholders, can help companies realise their scaling ambition.
We look forward to identifying, developing and guiding more companies in the future.
Bob Keiller is chairman of Scottish Enterprise.
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