As he relaunches the model for the Entrepreneurial Scotland Foundation post-Covid, CEO Sean McGrath has spoken forcefully about the importance of entrepreneurship as a vital foundation of the country’s overall economic wellbeing.

Speaking to Sir Tom Hunter and Lord Willie Haughey on their Go Radio Business Show, McGrath said: “As an independent charitable foundation our vision is to inspire and develop the people of Scotland to build the most entrepreneurial society in the world. 

“It’s a pretty big and audacious goal but it’s also really simple because for us an entrepreneurial Scotland is a prosperous Scotland – and we need prosperity. We need people to be out there creating prosperity for the people who don’t have it themselves. 

“So, in a nutshell, really as an organisation, we exist to build the belief and the connections that individuals need to have to become more entrepreneurial-minded.

“For us, an entrepreneur is someone who recognises a good idea then executes it. It’s not just necessarily about starting a business – it’s about driving and impacting growth in organisations.”

Instrumental in the Foundation’s work to nurture such growth is its successful Saltire Scholar Internship Programme.

“Basically we work with all of the universities in Scotland and have done so for the past 17 years,” says Sean, “and we spend a quarter of a million pounds every year and seven months working with those universities, finding the best young people we can, people with that spark in their eye, who have the EQ as opposed to the IQ.

“Then we put them through a rigorous selection process and we send them out on internships over the summer with companies all over the world to really connect them with peers and their potential. I always call them the ‘jockeys of the future’, the people who will go on to lead businesses and organisations.”
McGrath is also keen to highlight the importance to the national economy of bringing business pioneers closer together.

“These are the people who are trying to grow and build businesses in Scotland, people who are trying to create prosperity, and we give them the encouragement and the connections and the belief that they need to do it.”

The Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns had a huge impact on the work of the Foundation, McGrath admits, however as a driver of entrepreneurship it is constantly moving forward and growing stronger.

“As you can imagine, an organisation that sends people internationally then gathers them in rooms didn’t fare so well with Covid. We had a previous membership model that had about 700 people in it, however we obviously had to pause over Covid.

“Now we’re relaunching that model and bringing it back to life. One of the things I am keen to talk about is the new version of this membership because in the three years we came off the scene, networking has changed. People aren’t as willing anymore to turn up on spec to an event where they don’t really know anybody and may or may not meet somebody of interest. 

“Most of the business leaders we talk to now with the advent of online meeting, they’re just so ‘time poor’; every hour is filled with meetings with people online. So a lot of people came to us and asked us: ‘Look, if you’re thinking about the membership, can you think about something that’s a bit more focused and actually I’m a bit more guaranteed to meet the people that I’m after?’

“So we’re relaunching the membership now, not as you pay a fee and you turn up to an event if you want to turn up to an event, but actually as a cohort experience where you join a group of up to 12 leaders who are in a similar stage of the journey as you.

“Together you go through a series of events that are specifically designed for you.”