Digital loans to SMES pass £1m

Small businesses in Scotland have been awarded a combined £1 million in government digital improvement loans since June.

More than 20 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES) have received a share of the sum, taken from the £2 m Scottish Government Digital Development Loan fund.

The investment is par t of a £36m government initiative to help SMES boost their digital capabilities and upskill staff.

The latest company to receive funding, and whose award breaks the seven-figure milestone, is Sand Monitoring Services (SMS), an Aberdeenbased firm that provides sensory data analysis and visualisation for the global oil and gas sector in the UK and overseas.

S MS will use the loan to develop its data visualisation product, improve research and development tools and drive international activity.

Other sectors to benefit from the fund, managed by Lanarkshire Enterprise Services (LESL) and supported by DSL Business Finance, include agriculture and fisheries, food and drink, manufacturing, energy and renewable sand the creative industries.

Liz McCutcheon, project manager at LESL, said the initiative is “strengthening the ability of Scotland’ s SMES to innovate and compete digitally”.

The fund offers companies zero percent interest rate loans of up to £50,000.