Business skills course to boost entrepreneurship

Initial enrolment event for the course takes place next month

Young farmers and rural entrepreneurs are being offered the chance to take part in an eight-week business skills course.

The Scottish Agricultural and Rural Youth Pre-accelerator Programme, launched at Royal Highland Show in June, is a collaboration between the Rural Youth Project, NFU Scotland’s (NFUS) next generation group and the Scottish Association of Young Farmers’ Clubs.

The programme, which will be delivered in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland, is an eight-week online course designed to foster greater entrepreneurship within Scottish agricultural and rural communities.

Amy Dunnachie, who is involved with the Rural Youth Project on the Isle of Jura, encouraged young people to attend a registration event next month.

“To keep young people in rural places like Jura, and also to encourage more young people to move in, we need to make the tools to build business accessible; not only sustaining them practically and financially whilst developing transferable skills, but positively impacting the local community as well,” she said.

“The programme will give young people the opportunity to step up, take charge of their future and gain the confidence to carve their own path in the place they call home.”

NFUS next generation chairman Colin Ferguson added: “In a time of great uncertainty, it has never been more important for farmers to futureproof their businesses and increase their resilience in the current climate with this programme providing a fantastic network of support and improving key business skills.”

An initial enrolment event for the course, for which people must register in advance, takes place on October 22, at Ingliston House on the Royal Highland Showground near Edinburgh.

Afterwards, participants must complete modules in subjects including mindset and customer validation.

Thereafter they will be given the chance to enrol on a more in-depth 16-week course.

To register for next month’s event visit eventbrite.co.uk/e/pre-accelerator-inpartnership-with-scottish-agricultureand-rural-youth-tickets-69978953935

Picture: Getty. The Scottish Agricultural and Rural Youth Pre-accelerator Programme was launched in June.