Comrie takes care of its business
Village is listed as local top spot for most entrepreneurs by business federation
Comrie has again been listed as among the top spots for business in the country.
It is the fifth most entrepreneurial town in Scotland according to the Federation of Small Businesses.
Around 14.2 per cent of its population is self- employed, behind only Pittenweem in Fife, Tarbet in Argyll and Newtonmore and Ullapool in the Highlands.
There are around 200,000 people who are their own boss in Scotland, which is more than the number of employees in the NHS and local authorities.
The affluent village of around 1800 inhabitants was the only Big County community to make it to the upper echelons of the list and has been mentioned in previous surveys of this type.
Andy Willox, FSB’s Scottish policy convener, said: “This data shows the most successful local communities have high numbers of people who are their own boss.
“Unsurprisingly, popular tourist destinations are awash with smaller firms. Scotland’s market towns still have thriving business communities too.”
Perthshire-based Conservative Mid Scotland and Fife MSP, Liz Smith, has welcomed the findings but believes that infrastructure support, primarily digital, is needed in rural areas to ensure that even more people have the ability to set up their own company.
She said: “Comrie has an impressive number of self-employed workers and these figures would appear to indicate that this is a pattern in small market towns across Scotland.
“Whilst the entrepreneurialism shown by those in Comrie is impressive, things can always be improved.
“Better digital infrastructure, especially broadband and mobile internet, would be a huge boost to the small businesses in the area and could help increase the number of people becoming their own boss.
“With the right support, success stories like Comrie, could be replicated across Mid Scotland and Fife.”