Highlands and Islands Enterprise offers free places on its Pathfinder Accelerator programme to fast-track north firms to success
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A free six-month development programme to help Highland entrepreneurs on a fast-track to success has opened for applications.
Developed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and delivered mostly online, Pathfinder Accelerator provides training and mentoring for entrepreneurs looking to build a company or launch a new product.
Businesses have until April 20 to apply to be part of the next group, which starts in May and is funded by the Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal.
Potential participants can register for one-to-one sessions with a coach to find out more.
Andrea McColl, senior development manager for life sciences at HIE, said: “The programme is all about accelerating the growth of businesses in the region through innovation and entrepreneurship, developing networks, sourcing funding and planning for growth. Participants bring their ideas and these are scrutinised and tested for their commercial viability.”
Kyle Smith, founder of Energy Mutual, is a previous participant of Pathfinder. The programme helped him deliver his business idea of an automated service which helps owners of small-scale renewable assets manage and collect performance data.
He said: “My background and expertise is in engineering. Pathfinder helped me learn how to build a business and I was able to do it all from my base in Fort William.
“One of the benefits of being part of the Pathfinder programme is that it started to open up all the other doors that you didn’t realise were out there in terms of support for small businesses in the Highlands. Having that initial contact has been really helpful.”
The latest edition of the Pathfinder Accelerator programme has now launched with 13 businesses taking part.
They include Inverness businesses Scot Vet Referrals, the first purpose-built multidisciplinary referral practice in the Highlands, Alba Physiotherapy, and Eco Cascade CIC, which supports seaweed and natural resource cultivation on the west coast.
The businesses come from aquaculture and animal health industries and will receive export support from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).
This is the ninth group to start on the six-month programme since it began in 2018.
UK government minister for Scotland Iain Stewart is encouraging entrepreneurs across the Highlands and Islands to take advantage of the programme.
“The UK government is providing
£11 million to the Northern Innovation Hub to help create new jobs and growth in the region, and we are investing more than £1.75 billion to level up communities right across Scotland,” he said.
The programme will be delivered online by training specialists Skillfluence, which has developed and designed a new course structure including an e-learning platform to make it more accessible.
