East Renfrewshire Council has launched a new support programme for local businesses, led by Business Gateway East Renfrewshire.
East Renfrewshire Accelerator will provide nine businesses with tailored support, expert advice and access to co-working space within the Greenlaw Works in Newton Mearns. The aim for the businesses is to achieve a turnover of £250,000 and create at least one new job opportunity per business, while focussing on technological adoption, sustainability and strengthening the local entrepreneurial landscape.
The programme, which is funded through the Council’s economic development local discretionary fund, will offer the businesses a wide range of training from Business Gateway staff and industry experts, covering networking, communications, strategy development, procurement and sales.
East Renfrewshire businesses were invited to apply for the programme via Business Gateway East Renfrewshire and were selected based on their future growth plans and commitment to the local economy. The successful businesses cover a of variety industries across property, health, marketing, tech, construction, insurance and innovation including Fraser Kelly Property, who provide a personalised estate agency service, and Integrity Cyber, who provide cyber security solutions to SMEs.
Dimos Efthimiou from Integrity Cyber said: “We’re delighted to be part of this programme. We wanted to be in an environment that would encourage collaboration and these fantastic facilities will do just that. We are really looking to grow our business organically and look forward to seeing how far East Renfrewshire Accelerator will take us.”
Fraser Kelly from Fraser Kelly Property added: “We were established two years ago and have enjoyed growth during this period, but what we now want to focus on is developing our operation, so this programme came at the perfect time for us. We are really looking forward to the expert mentorship in these great facilities, which puts us right in the community we want to expand in.”
Councillor Danny Devlin, Convener for Environment and Housing, said: “East Renfrewshire enjoys a varied and wide-ranging local economy, from tech and innovation, to hospitality, retail, health and financial services – all of which brings employment to the area, as well as investment and increased visitors, so it’s vital that we support our local economy and this new programme is doing just that. It was great to hear from some of the businesses signed-up, which highlighted the diverse talent we have, and I’d like to wish all the businesses involved the very best for their future.”
For further information on the support available for local businesses, visit www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/business-support
