The youth dividend

Supported by Entrepreneurial-Spark, The Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT), the Saltire Foundation, Micro-Tyco and others, the event will allow Scotland's most promising and public-spirited entrepreneurs to network and "energy share" with their global peers. It will be followed by an Entrepreneurs' Summit in Edinburgh for a discussion on ''the future of youth entrepreneurship in Scotland".

But what will the participants get out of the summit? And how well does the support apparatus and atmosphere of Scotland nurture the future business leaders in its midst?

We spoke to some of the participants in next week's event about their challenges and motivatation.

Name: Arti Poddar, 29

Business: Sterling Care Homes, Lotus Senior Living, Little Einstein's Kindergarten

What do they do? Old people's homes and childcare

Turnover: Combined £5.5 million a year

I got involved in business to make a difference and to create employment, while offering better care for elderly people and better education for pre-school children. All the people coming along to the Power of Youth events have similar goals – they are not in it solely for profit.

I have never networked enough as I have just put my head down and got on with my work, but I need to share experiences more. I got involved with Power of Youth, as I want to be involved with a network of people who think the same as I do.

I have been operating businesses for close to seven years and my aim has always been to get to being known more as a philanthropist rather than a entrepreneur. My plans are to set up for not-for-profit nurseries in deprived parts of Scotland, offering good-quality childcare. Scotland's where I want to do this as Scotland's the place that has given me and my family the opportunities.

It doesn't actually matter what sector you are in, the same skills are needed as an entrepreneur: to build a business you need passion and focus and an aim in life, plus the sheer determination and desire for hard work. Entrepreneurs are always wanting to better themselves, and indirectly to have an impact on other people. Everyone has the ability to be an entrepreneur.

A session with entrepreneurs from all around the world will be nourishing, and previous ones run by Power of Youth have shown the ability to affect policy discussions.

It's a lot of hard work being an entrepreneur. You can have a much easier life just having one business, but I can't go home thinking that's me for the day: there is always more to be done.

Independence could make it better for entrepreneurs, it could be great for Scotland, but there are a lot of questions to be answered.

Name: Jen Munro, 32

Business: ISSOS (International Summer School of Scotland), founded in 2006

What does it do? Exclusive three-week summer courses for international students in St Andrews and Cambridge

Turnover: £1.6 million

AFTER a history degree in St Andrews I worked in a summer camp in the US, and I decided to give it a go myself. My dad's an entrepreneur who had some hard times as well as successes, so I saw both sides, but it's always something I wanted to do.

I'm looking forward to being among 30 entrepreneurs from around the world. To me the main question is how we can affect Scotland in a positive way, and how we can get more people to become entrepreneurial. How can we use our collective skills to make that happen?

The event is called The Naked Entrepreneur, which means we will be revealing ourselves and what makes us tick. I guess what we will all have in common is that we didn't go into business just to make money, and that our businesses are not confined to one country – all of us have aspirations to be global, though the first challenge is how to effect change in Scotland.

To me, the fact that there are so many young entrepreneurs in Scotland reflects the fact that Scotland is a phenomenal place to start a business, and that fact needs to be promoted more. There is lots of help available, from the likes of the PSYBT. I was 25 I got my first loan from them of £5000, not to mention all the mentorship they offered afterwards. The strength of these support systems needs to be better recognised. There is lots of help available - it's so easy to tap into and there are many people who are willing to share their contacts.

I think the educational system in Scotland needs to be adjusted as it doesn't really promote the idea of becoming employers rather than becoming employees. We need to get more kids to follow their impulses and to do what they like doing – they should be going to work every day to do something they adore, rather than doing what their fathers did.

Scotland has a lot going for it, but I'm not for independence. Staying part of Britain is a positive thing and I think we would struggle on our own in many ways. I have found very few entrepreneurs who think differently. Scotland has a tendency to be parochial anyway, and it is likely independence would make this tendency worse.

Name: Ross Tsakas, 27

Business: Eulysis, founded in 2011

What does it do? Invented and manufactures the Single Vial System (SVS) a storage and delivery device for vaccines and other pharmaceuticals

Turnover: None yet – will be selling by January, predicted £5 million in first year of operation

What is good about the Power of Youth summit is that I'll get to meet people who are entrepreneurs like me, and there are always possible collaborations and joint ventures that could emerge. Even if we are in completely different sectors we can find common ground on issues like funding infrastructure, networks, project planning, cash flow management, legal issues -

All of us taking part have an ambition to make a difference. With Eulysis this desire is built into the product – the point of it is that it allows twice as much vaccine to be transported to remote parts of the world as is currently possible, so it's potentially about saving twice as many lives.

With these networking seminars with the Saltire Foundation, you always meet somebody who can help you, and even just taking some time away from the job and chatting about issues with people helps.

I've been working with my dad on cosmetic products since I was 16, before entering the world of university collaborations on design and integration of new products in existing manufacturing lines. I studied biomedical engineering in Athens, and then did further studies in Edinburgh. I got funding of £80,000 for an enterprise fellowship from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and have also have had support from the PSYBT, the Bill and Belinda Gates Foundation, and Scottish Enterprise. I've also had £50,000 from Scottish Enterprise.

I'm half Greek and half American and I find Scotland better than either. In the US, business support is all about the investment base and in Greece there is a lot of bureaucracy but not much support infrastructure.

Name: Victoria Arnold, 28

Business: Desk Union, founded in 2012

What does it do? Matches start-ups and microbusinesses with firms with spare desk space or workspace to let

Turnover: £20,000

Entrepreneurs have the same kind of values wherever they are. The Power of Youth event is a fantastic opportunity to get to know people from across the globe. Most of us have global aspirations, so here's a chance to hear their stories and find out how we can collaborate.

It will be really interesting to get different perspectives on the global economy and I expect to come out buzzing with new ideas and new contacts. My business is born out of recession so I see the current climate as an opportunity more than anything, as lots of people have excess space and are still tied into long-term leases.

I guess moving forwards I would like to get advice on the scalability of business. These young entrepreneurs are all very successful, so I'm keen to find out how they have scaled their business, how they have made the most of what they have achieved, what their issues have been, and how they have followed through their initial vision.

For me the next phase will be introducing software that will let us scale rapidly, allowing us to take bookings any day of the week. It opens up a brand new market, and lets us grow quite rapidly. I'd like to be operating over at least two continents by the end of the year. We've already had our first enquiry from the US.

If you look at the way the economy has gone, a lot of companies have downsized. We have companies that are tied into long-term commercial property leases. If you look at the number of new starts, there is a definite need for flexible work space.

I was part of Entrepreneurial-Spark so I have a very positive view of the way Scotland encourages entrepreneurs. The £2 million Scottish EDGE Fund, which aims to support and encourage entrepreneurial activity among young companies in Scotland, has just come to fruition – it's a fantastic example of what the Scottish Government is doing to support small businesses.

There is also a lot of networking events at grass roots, and there are strong communities of entrepreneurs in Glasgow and Edinburgh. It's a really vibrant culture. We've had so much support from entrepreneurs – most people are happy to "pay it forward" [donate time and advice to other entrepreneurs], and like many people in this scene I am happy to see others succeed.