New figures released ahead of Global Entrepreneurship Week which begins on Monday show that more than a third of young people in Scotland want to start their own business but the majority would like support to build the skills needed to do so.

Research from The King's Trust Youth Index shows 35% would like to start up their own business, with 63% interested in support to build the skills needed to achieve this. A total of 87% of young people in Scotland said they wanted to start their own business to "take control of their finances", while 43% were reportedly worried about not having the right skills to get a job in the future.

The King's Trust, formerly known as The Prince's Trust, supports vulnerable people between the ages of 11 and 30 to help get their lives on track. Last year, 37 people in Scotland participated in the charity's enterprise programme.


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Deborah Lobban founded the Dastardly Line fashion brand with help from The King's Trust. Dastardly Line procures offcut materials from some of the biggest textile producers in Scotland and turns them into a range of different items, including handbags, quilts and throws.

Glasgow-based goalkeeper and entrepreneur Reagan Maliska secured mentorship and grant support through The King's Trust to get his sports supplement business, Pre-Game Energy, up and running. This helped him find a manufacturer for his product, an idea he had while on a football scholarship in the US.

"Without it, I don’t know if I would have been able to afford to get Pre-Game Energy produced," Mr Maliska said of the enterprise programme.

“My business mentor Robin is a massive help as well. He’s not worked in sport supplements before, but his business experience is invaluable to someone like me who hasn’t got any.

"There are so many things that you don’t think about before starting a business and to have that experienced support along with you is massive. I had no idea about bookkeeping, overhead, or anything like that but Robin is brilliant when it comes to all of that. He keeps me right."