Scottish small businesses are being encouraged to plan for growth as the mediocre economic developments of the last two years come to an end. The Scottish Council for Development and Industry has joined the Federation of Small Businesses to get Scotland’s small businesses focused on sustainable, long-term growth.
The two industry groups will participate in a joint conference in Edinburgh late this week to encourage Scotland’s small and medium-sized businesses. The groups claim that many of Scotland’s small businesses have the potential to grow, but have put off growth plans after previously sluggish economic conditions forced them to.
Andy Willox, the Scottish policy convener for the Federation of Small Businesses, is positive about small business growth. He believes that many of Scotland’s small or medium-sized businesses can grow, and is ‘encouraging those firms to seek out new opportunities and modernise their plans.’
The upcoming FSB-SCDI National Business Conference is the third of its type and is planned for this Thursday. The event will be attended by John Swinney, the Finance Secretary, as well as over 250 Scottish business owners. The event aims to assist the country’s small and medium-sized businesses in spotting and capitalising on growth opportunities.
The conference’s goals are certainly ambitious, but a number of economic indicators suggest that they may not be outside the realm of possibility. Recent data published by the Office for National Statistics indicates that growth in the second quarter of the year could reach 0.7 percent, up from a conservative 0.6 percent estimate.
For Scotland’s small businesses, which have held off major expansion in favour of a more maintenance-focused approach to business, the advice and information made available by the conference could be just what’s required to reignite the flames of growth and kick-start the country’s small businesses.
