Browse some latest updates for rural enterprises and communities here:
New Perthshire Health and Wellbeing Hub
A new health and wellbeing hub has been launched at the Guide Hall in Little Dunkeld. This is a joint local initiative between GrowBiz, The Friends of Guiding and Dunkeld and Birnam Community Interest Company. The aim of the initiative is to be able to offer more health and wellbeing services to the community. A therapy bed and wheeled screens are included in the booking. Anyone interested in making use of this new facility for an hourly rental of £10 per hour please contact coworkingdunkeld@gmail.com
Fife Council SME Development Grant
This fund offers small and medium sized business based in Fife small non-repayable grants to help with costs in 6 eligible areas: trade development; workforce upskilling; transition to net zero; research and development (R&D) and innovation support; agriculture business diversification; support for studies. Your business must be working with Business Gateway Fife to be considered. Find out more here.
New Guide to Creating Case Studies
Community Groups can benefit from a new guide commissioned by Scottish Rural Network: ‘Telling your story through case studies’. It covers the things to think about, key tips, and links to follow on resources or tools. Find out more here.
Highlands & Moray Business Bootcamp
Taking place in the Caledonian Stadium on the 26 April, this event is free to attend and open to all. Targeted at all businesses across the Highlands, Moray and beyond, the Bootcamp will provide a morning of inspirational thoughts and support, followed by a light networking lunch – all designed to help businesses flourish and grow. Find out more and book here.
Perth & Kinross Council Beyond Scotland Market Development Grant
The 24/25 Beyond Scotland Market Development Grant is open to applications. This Grant provides support to businesses specifically to undertake new projects or activities which will enable them to reach overseas markets, or market in other parts of the UK (excluding Scotland). Grants of up to £3,000 covering up to 50% of eligible costs are available for this purpose. To find out more email BusinessDevelopment@pkc.gov.uk
Net Zero - Climate Cafe, Birnam Arts Centre, Tuesday, 21 May, 11:00 - 13:00
Join GrowBiz at a Climate Cafe in Birnam to talk about how we can manage the impacts of climate change on our businesses. We will be joined by Jess Pepper who founded the climate cafe movement and who is on BBC World 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world for 2023, as one of 28 Climate Pioneers ahead of COP28. This informal gathering is to give us the opportunity to chat over a cup of coffee and discuss anything and everything from how to think about climate change and opportunities it presents, as well as the challenges and ways to tackle these. We want to share experiences, both good and bad, of taking action, however big or small! This event is funded by SSE Renewables for rural businesses in Perth and Kinross. Book here.
THRIVE 2024
SAC Consulting, SRUC and Queen Margaret University are collaborating again to deliver THRIVE 2024 - a programme for budding food & drink and rural entrepreneurs. THRIVE helps to create resilient start-up food & drink businesses that, right from the start, have a long-term view. The 2024 programme runs from September to November and comprises two fully interactive one-day workshops and six webinars. Registration is now open here and will close on 23 August 2024. See the THRIVE 2024 Full Programme.
Gateway to Food & Drink Innovation - SRUC Enterprise Showcase Event
This free event will be taking place at SRUC Craibstone Campus, Aberdeen on Wednesday 1st May 2024 at 9.30am-12.30pm. It will showcase the breadth of their food and drink activities from product development and innovation to industry-focussed research, consultancy and education. If you’re a food and drink business this event will give you a better understanding of how SRUC / SAC Consulting can help you and will also showcase some examples of products that they have helped to develop. Opportunity North East (ONE) will join SRUC at this event and provide an update on the transformational SeedPod project. To register please visit SRUC Food and Drink Enterprise Showcase