YOUNG space mining entrepreneur Mitch Hunter-Scullion saw nothing in the Budget to take himself or other young people out of renting and into the first-time buyer market.
The 23-year-old, who is renting in Glasgow is seeking £2.3 million to kickstart his business and build a satellite capable of identifying platinum metal deposits on near-Earth asteroids for mining.
The former Liverpool Hope University student who launched his Asteroid Mining Corporation with the support from Business Gateway Glasgow was hoping for Budget encouragement in developing his industry of the future .
As he seeks to develop the business he rarely takes a salary, because there is little money coming in yet.
"I have been doing this for two-and-a-half years and personally I could go a couple of months without getting any pay because it is my own business," he said. "I am some years from owning property. I am a young person of 23. Most people my age rent and it looks like most of my generation will continue to rent for the next ten years.
"I don't see that massive upswing of support to get people on the property ladder and help young people set up businesses."
He said there were "good and bad elements" in the Budget based on his circumstances.
He saw a glimmer of hope in a Budget announcment of £1.6 billion in science and innovation investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI), quantum computing, future manufacturing, and nuclear fusion. Although there was no mention of space technology.
"It's not exactly futuristic tech if you don't involve the space industry. I was disappointed by that," he said.
The space businessman hopes to launch the UK's first asteroid mining mission in 2020 from India with a plan to mine in ten years time, but knows he needs the financial support.
"I know they talked about giving loans through the British Business Bank, but when you are talking about tech startup businesses, often you are not eligible because you won't see revenue for three or four years," said Mr Hunter-Scullion, who set up AMC after completing his university disseration on asteroid mining.
"When you are talking about a business that will take three years before you see any revenue, you have a three year development cycle, you can't really be looking at loans. "With a loan you are expected to pay it back quite quickly, and that's not sustainable when you have a three year development cycle.
"I was hoping now we are going into Brexit we should be seeing more support for startups and innovation but i just don't see it.
"One easy solution is to give grant for young entrepreneurs. If you want to promote young entrepreneurship you have to have a grant scheme which will allow them have that kickstart to get onto their feet. There is nothing like that."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel