Supporting Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the South of Scotland
We’re delighted and excited to be partnering with South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) to support founders and entrepreneurs in the South of Scotland region.
Over the next few months, the Metta team and I will be working with stakeholders from across both SOSE and the South of Scotland on a research project that will look to document the innovation and entrepreneurship landscape in the area. We’ll be taking a deep dive into companies that are already established in the region, meeting with aspirational founders and business leaders to learn about their challenges, what industries are most prevalent, as well as how everything (and everyone) works from a sustainability perspective.
Our aim, while learning from the founders and businesses in the South of Scotland, is to identify what existing (public and private) support is available to these businesses, and to explore what more can be provided in terms of advice, mentoring, events, networking connections and more.
We’ve been in discussion with the SOSE team over the last few months and we’re really excited to be working with CEO Jane Morrison-Ross, Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship Susan Harkins and the wider team.
Susan Harkins, Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at SOSE, said:
“At SOSE, we have a vision to establish the South of Scotland as the centre of opportunity, innovation and growth.
“We are fully committed to achieving this vision in a sustainable manner, and to do so we need to fully understand the opportunities and challenges facing aspirational founders and business leaders in our region.
“This is why we are delighted to now be working with Metta on this exciting research project.
“Metta have a strong track record of supporting startups across a range of sectors and at different stages of their lifecycle.
“We would encourage all founders and businesses in the South to engage with Metta as part of the research project, which will also see Metta able to provide business advice and support.”
To kick things off, we’ve launched our office hours: a virtual (video or phone) call, where we offer free impartial business advice and support based on our experience as entrepreneurs ourselves (and our time designing and delivering business support programmes). These office hour calls are designed to help founders and entrepreneurs optimise their team, business and product, as well as providing them with first-hand insight and experience on how to take their business ideas to the next level. We’ll also take a deeper dive into best business practices, with a particular focus on sustainability.
If you’d like to arrange a virtual call, check our Calendly link for availability. If there’s no availability that suits you, drop me an email (details in the footer) and we can find time!
As well as these virtual calls, we’ll be hosting an in-person drop in session at the beginning of April — location TBC. We’ll also be hosting a number of events with SOSE for businesses and business leaders in the region over the coming months.
If you are a founder or small business owner in the South of Scotland and you would like to offer your insight — please sign up for a short interview call here.
On a personal note, while SOSE is just two years old, I’ve been amazed at the ambition and enthusiasm everyone at the agency has for the work they do. SOSE’s core values align closely with ours, and we’re also both focused on sustainability, inclusivity and accessibility.
The team and I are looking forward to getting started!
About SOSE
South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) is the one-stop shop for businesses and enterprising communities throughout Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders. SOSE exists to help people and enterprises in the south to thrive, grow, and fulfil their best potential.
Its vision is to establish the South as the centre of opportunity, innovation and growth and for SOSE to help achieve this by being bold, striving, inclusive and responsible.
Learn more about SOSE: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
About Metta
Metta is the transformative innovation agency. Our purpose is to ingrain regeneration and sustainability into all innovation to drive positive, long-term impact. We do this by facilitating transformative innovation as a force for good with startups, industry, governments and businesses through education, collaboration, challenging and changing the narrative.
We’ve supported more than 500 startups across a broad range of industries and at different stages in the startup lifecycle. The portfolio of startups we’ve worked with has raised the best part of $0.25b in post-programme investment and generated almost 1,500 jobs globally. As a team, Metta has also helped deploy £4m+ into innovative early-stage businesses with VC funds, angels and strategic investors.
Learn more about us: Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Podcast
Want to learn more about Metta? Let’s talk 🗣
Wil Benton — wil@metta.partners| linkedin.com/in/fatkidonfire
