A Highlands and Islands-wide programme of skills workshops for entrepreneurs and social enterprises is being launched this month.
The roll-out of the Entrepreneurial Academy follows a pilot scheme run by development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) last year.
It will start with a sales workshop in Thurso on June 13, led by Matthew Quinn of Edinburgh-based Future Sales Factory.
The programme will run until the summer of 2020, visiting Benbecula, Forres, Fort William, Kirkwall, Lerwick, Inverness, Oban, Portree, and Stornoway and covering topics including brand development, pitching skills and digital strategy delivery.
HIE’s senior entrepreneurship manager, Louise MacDonald, said: “We’re delighted to be rolling out the Entrepreneurial Academy across the Highlands and Islands, following a very successful pilot in 2017.
“These skills workshops help businesses and social enterprises accelerate their growth through providing them with a structured process, tools and tactics to boost sales, enhance their brand, hone their pitching skills and develop a digital strategy.
“I look forward to welcoming businesses from across the region to the various workshops, seeing how they implement what they’ve learned and the impact it has on their business.”
Mr Quinn said the opening one-day workshop in Caithness would equip those attending with skills they could put to use in their businesses immediately.
He added: “We work with people from single person businesses to multinational corporations and are delighted to be helping HIE support young and growing businesses in Scotland.
“Our last entrepreneurial sales workshop was a complete sell-out and received maximum feedback scores from everyone who attended, and I’d encourage entrepreneurs from any industry to attend on June 13.
“From food and drink, tourism, energy, engineering and business services; these sessions always prove that the sales process is exactly the same, no matter what industry you are in.”
