Entrepreneurial Spark, the not-for-profit Scots start-up "hatchery" supported by philanthropist-entrepreneurs Sir Tom Hunter and Lord Haughey, has published Scotland's first authoritative "A-list" of top young entrepreneurial talent whose ideas include a fresh fish delivery service, an app to assist teenage flirting, a new style of travel pillow and a board game for the visually impaired.
Today, the Sunday Herald can reveal "Scotland's 20 under 30", the incubator's pick of the most promising young entrepreneurs operating north of the Border. It is based on their success in three areas: "traction" (the quality of the sales, team and capacity for growth); "funding" (ability to secure funding or generate significant revenue); and "entrepreneurship" (ability to demonstrate mindset and behaviours of an entrepreneur).
Jim Duffy, chief executive of Entrepreneurial Spark (ESpark), said the list was designed to focus attention on the young business leaders of the future, to ensure they are supported by more experienced mentors and to inspire younger peers to embark on an entrepreneurial career.
He said: "There are so many young people coming through colleges and universities in Scotland who don't think entrepreneuring is for them, or that you have got to have lots of prior experience, whereas there are many who have already achieved a lot simply by having high aspirations.
"Their story needs to be told and celebrated. Even if half of these business ideas might be dead in two or three years, the fact that we in Scotland have this fresh talent coming through needs to be highlighted. Of course, everyone can celebrate a runaway success like [flight prices website] Skyscanner, but we need to celebrate the younger crop in Scotland who are giving it a go."
Duffy recently unveiled plans to take the ESpark format to Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Manchester and Cardiff in 2015, and said he would like each centre to publish its own lists.
He said: "We're just going to track the progress of the people on the list, to make sure that these people get as many opportunities as possible, that they meet the right ambassadors and get the right help. We need to make them feel they have the right level of attention and guidance behind them".
ESpark is preparing to launch its first English "hatchery" in Birmingham early next year. The site is a seven-storey former NatWest building in St Phillips Place opposite the city's cathedral.
Duffy said that ESpark was already marketing itself in England's second largest city, "taking up billboards, local media, online media, business forums and local networks like Asian Women Mean Business".
"We are building it up between now and Christmas," he said. "In a year's time I'd like to be sitting with between 60-80 businesses in the hatchery, mirroring what we have got in Scotland.
"There's less public-sector funding sector for start-ups in the south, they really have to work hard … there is a need for something like ESpark, as there is not much support for non-tech businesses, there's a whole glut of businesses that don't fit the support model they have down there."
Entrepreneurial Spark is a business accelerator for early-stage and growing ventures from all sectors that is free for the entrepreneur and takes no equity in supported businesses. It is currently located across three spaces in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Ayrshire.
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