The Duke of York visited Aberdeen yesterday to meet with business chiefs and help promote the spirit of entrepreneurship in the north-east of Scotland.
His Royal Highness Prince Andrew went on a tour around the social enterprise Elevator, based at the Bridge of Don, to learn about how the company helps new start-ups to get on their feet and established businesses to grow through advice, workshops, seminars and other events.
The prince, who works to promote economic growth and skilled job creation all across the UK, met with the company’s deputy chief executive Graham Morgan, who showed him around the £1 million facility.
After talks with representatives of business development group Opportunity North East (ONE), Aberdeen City Council, international finance firm KPMG,Scottish Enterprise and more, the friendly royal – who is known as the Earl of Inverness in Scotland – took time out his busy schedule to stop and chat with young engineering apprentices and people starting their own businesses to encourage them to follow their career dreams.
Mr Morgan said that Prince Andrew’s visit highlighted the importance of entrepreneurship for the north-east economy , particularly during the current downturn in the oil and gas industry.
Mr Morgan said: “This is a challenging time for the north-east, but it it also a time of opportunities.
“The entrepreneurial agenda has become even more important to the local economy, even to Scotland, and Elevator is very well placed to make a real difference at this time.
“Aberdeen has always had a strong reputation for innovation and has always been strongly entrepreneurial but at this time, perhaps more than ever, the need for diversification, new thinking and creativity is self-evident.
“The opportunity to share thoughts on all this and to show the positives that underlie the challenges is fantastic.”
Over the last 12 months, Elevator has helped 555 people start up their own businesses in Aberdeen, and 721 in Aberdeenshire – with 6% of businesses created by those who have been made redundant from the oil and gas industry.
Karen Clark, a project manager at Elevator, said: “It was great having The Duke here, we had a group of pupils from Bridge of Don Academy, and they were really excited to meet him, it’s been a really special day for everyone here.”
