Businesses in the North-east are invited to engage in a nationwide initiative to address critical challenges as the country recovers economically from the pandemic.
ScaleUp Week: The Business Plan is a series of events that will take place from Tuesday, May 18 – Thursday, May 20. Launched by investment company, BGF, and the ScaleUp Institute, a think tank, the online sessions will include business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng. The aim of the week’s events to “ignite a conversation on the future of scale-ups, innovation and investment throughout the UK”.
Mike Sibson, head of BGF’s Aberdeen office said: “Here in the North-east we have a strong presence of entrepreneurs and scaleups that are perfectly poised to capitalise on major opportunities, such as the energy transition, and play an important role in accelerating economic progress across the UK.
“This new initiative is here to help deliver a more diverse, cleaner and fast-growth future for UK scaleups, many of whom have just emerged from a long and challenging lockdown period and are now looking ahead for new growth opportunities.”
The series of virtual events will see leaders of industry, investors, banks, academics and policymakers coming together to explore how the UK’s high-potential businesses can support the levelling-up agenda, drive progress in our communities, foster diverse workforces, achieve the transition to net zero and more.
Now is a moment of great opportunity
Mr Kwarteng said: “There is no question that this has been a challenging year for British businesses, but we also now have a moment of great opportunity with firms shaking up how they do things and adopting new tech and ways of working.
“I look forward to speaking to some of Britain’s brightest business leaders at ScaleUp Week and hearing more about how we can help them to innovate, export, create jobs, generate wealth, and build back better from the pandemic, using government support like our new Help to Grow Management Scheme.”
Scaleup Week: The Business Plan will host a series of virtual events with themes including enriching the community, navigating the journey to net zero, finding a purpose and embedding a culture, unlocking ingenuity, making global Britain a reality, focusing on skills and no more glass ceilings.
Scottish companies will be represented, with Willie Watt, chair of Scottish National Investment Bank and Karen Betts, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association contributing to the “Making Global Britain a reality: can growing businesses attract worldwide attention?” panel discussion.