Small businesses are key to the rural economy recovery

Iremember writing around this time last year about the importance of small and micro-businesses to the rural economy.

I wrote about the amazing resilience and creativity many of these enterprises showed and the diversity of ideas which made Scotland’s rural areas, islands, small towns and coastal areas so dynamic and full of potential.

In every sector, innovations and new thinking were evident.

And along with the ever-improving digital connectivity, it was becoming clear that anyone – with the requisite ideas, skills, finance and social capital – could make a business work anywhere, however remote or distant from urban infrastructures.

Over the last couple of years, Growbiz has seen an amazing range of new and viable business ideas in sectors as diverse as creative services, niche manufacturing, care and wellbeing, adventure tourism and many more.

Despite the unforeseen events of 2020, this is still the case – but only if urgent action is taken to support the many rural businesses which have not benefited from any of the financial assistance provided through the pandemic.

And if start-up funding is provided for the increasing numbers of people who want to start an enterprise.

I am confident that rural Scotland can recover from its worst crisis in several generations, but only if we take the opportunity to reimagine how it goes forward.

There needs to be a much greater understanding, supported by metrics, of what constitutes the rural,

island and economy.

Small and microbusinesses are crucial.

Yet more than 80% of micro-enterprises in Scotland don’t appear in the business statistics because they’re sole traders or self-employed and/or not registered for VAT – and the only government agency with the relevant information is HMRC, which doesn’t provide a detailed analysis of this data.

This really matters, as policy-making and allocation of resources are based on data and evidence.

The shocking lack of financial support for many self-employed and business owners during this coronavirus crisis is a direct result of this lack of understanding of what constitutes an enterprise.

We need to develop a small town

much more positive approach to enterprise and entrepreneurship.

The rate of selfemployment in non-urban areas is twice that of urban – which means that more than 20% of people in rural Scotland create their own job and jobs for others.

And all the evidence is pointing to a surge of enterprising activity.

Anyone with the courage to start, adapt or diversify a business in the current circumstances deserves our respect and support.

But financial assistance for start-ups or diversification is entirely missing from our current business support initiatives.

At a time when it is more difficult than ever to get bank finance, this is stymying many people from getting much-needed enterprises off the ground or on to the next stage of development.

The disproportionate impact of Covid on young people is well-documented. We face the prospect of the worst unemployment rates among the under-30s since the notorious early ’80s.

Some credit can be given to the Scottish and UK governments for establishing, respectively,

the Young Person’s Guarantee scheme and Kickstart.

But neither of these provide any encouragement or support for young people who want to start up a business.

We have been promoting enterprise in schools and universities for decades, and many young people have brilliant, feasible ideas which could be developed into businesses – but they need access to capital, appropriate support and assurances that their efforts will be valued.

This could easily be achieved by converting the offer of six months subsidised wages into a “test-trading” grant, with suitable mentoring and work experience included.

At Growbiz, we’ve supported more than 800 rural businesses since the start crisis.

Working with partners and stakeholders we’ve tried to help people through these difficult times.

Our peer learning and coaching/mentoring model is the relational approach to enterprise support which works best for these times.

American author Dave Pelzer gave us the topical quote, “something good comes out of every crisis”.

Rebuilding and reframing our rural economy through enterprise could be our “something good” – but only if we take the necessary action right now. of the

Covid-19

We’ve supported more than 800 rural businesses

Izzy Gretton, of The Highland Designer, Aberfeldy, who has benefited from Growbiz support.