Royal Bank of Scotland is opening its doors to new applications to join its in-house Entrepreneur Accelerator programme.
The bank is now accepting applications for what it describes as a fully funded support programme for Scottish scale-ups and high growth businesses looking to scale and succeed.
It aims to support around 1,600 businesses through the programme next year.
Businesses on the Accelerator are provided with free office space in Glasgow and Edinburgh with free wi-fi and printing, with the programme providing focused support on the recognised barriers that entrepreneurs face, with access to funding, new markets, infrastructure, leadership and coaching.
In November, the programme was formally endorsed by the Scale Up Institute, a not for profit organisation which aims to make the UK “the best place in the world for SMEs to scale up”.
RBS has to date supported more than 15,000 entrepreneurs through it, creating nearly 1,300 jobs and contributing in excess of £103 million to the UK economy – with nearly half of all businesses supported female led.
Gordon Merrylees, RBS managing director for entrepreneurship, said: this was the programme’s “fifth consecutive year helping Scotland’s brightest new businesses grow”.
He added: “We want to give all businesses the best possible chance of success and welcome applications from business people from any background, and so I’m really excited to see another diverse, disruptive intake joining us for 2020 and beyond.”
Alan McGregor, owner of Silver Birch Interiors, was one of the first people to enter the Entrepreneur Accelerator programme in 2014. He previously worked for high profile clients such as Cala Homes but gave it up to launch his own business.
While on the Accelerator Programme he secured a showroom space, £25,000 of funding from The Princes Trust and he was named as the Most Accelerated Business that year. Earlier this year he expanded his business into the central belt.
He said: “The growth of Silver Birch Interiors has been phenomenal and I can’t believe than in just five years we are now in a position to open our new owned space.
“This will allow us to reduce overheads and ensure we showcase our designs and work in the best way possible, helping drive increases in sales.
“Being a part of The Royal Bank of Scotland’s Entrepreneur Accelerator programme gave me the kick-start I needed to set up my business and being around like-minded entrepreneurs and having access to support and advice from the bank’s mentors and finance experts, helped me to focus my growth plans.”
The bank offers its Accelerator programme as part of its wider Entrepreneurship initiative, which also includes Pre-Accelerator and Fintech programmes, offered to early stage start-ups, and those that focus on the financial technology sector respectively.
