Scotland’s quality of life biggest draw as place to launch and run a business
● Other factors include good access to skilled labour and lower operating costs
The most appealing aspect of setting up and running a small business in Scotland is its quality of life, new research has found.
The factor was chosen by 71 per cent of SMES north of the Border, with the same percent age seeing Scotland as a good place to set up and run a small firm, according to the Yougov survey commissioned by Amazon that covered about 350 such businesses.
Other appealing aspects of doing business in Scotland were good access to skilled labour, lower operational costs compared to the rest of the UK, and access to business advice and support, which all came in at about 30 per cent.
There were also few complaints, with four in ten SMES seeing nothing unappealing about Scotland to launch and operate a small business.
However, Amazon said Scotland still lags behind the rest of the UK in launching start- ups. It said that in 2016 there were 50 new business registrations per 10,000 of the adult population, compared to the UK figure of 67 ( excluding London).
The online retailer added that its SME survey findings have been published on the back of the second annual Amazon Academy in Scotland, an event designed to help SMES compete in the growing digital economy.
More than 500 small businesses and entrepreneurs attended the event inGl asgow last month to hear from experts and S MES offering advice and support for growing their organisation to reach a global audience.
One such firm is Second Nature in Dumfries, founded by Karen Riddick and which exports Fair Trade products across Europe through Amazon Marketplace from her family home in rural Scotland. She said that when running an online shop “it doesn’t really matter where you live – all you need is access to suitable storage, broadband and a courier service”.
Doug Gurr, UK country manager at Amazon, added: “Scotland is a great place to live, and it’ s clearly a major factor in convincing entrepreneurs to start and grow their business north of the Border.
“Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen opportunities for rural entrepreneurs transformed through e - commerce, better delivery of services and growing access to fast broadband.
“However, it’ sjustt hebe g inn ing,”Gurr added. He also cited a recent report commissioned by the firm that found unlocking the digital potential of non- urban areas in Scotland could add up to £2.5 billion annually in gross value added to Scotland’ s rural economy and at least £ 1.44bn to rural business turnover.