CLIMATE focused businesses in Scotland can now gain extra support after a national bank announced an enterprise programme.
The Royal Bank of Scotland announced a new programme today to boost its support for scale up businesses as well as climate, fintech, and B-Corp focussed businesses.
Over 1,400 businesses are expected to receive support from the banking giant as applications to the programme opened today.
The bank is committing to supporting 35,000 UK entrepreneurs through its Enterprise programmes in 2021, and a further 200,000 interventions with future entrepreneurs through mentoring, webinars and coaching.
The bank has also said businesses applying for a place on the Accelerator programme need to be new or existing customers of NatWest Group.
The firm has said there will be a particular focus on scale ups – businesses that grow their turnover or employment by more than 20% each year.
Royal Bank now also commits at least 25% of space on the programme to climate-focussed businesses whose main objective relates to environmentally sustainable practices, building on its sponsorship of the forthcoming UN COP26 climate summit, to be held in Glasgow in November.
The relaunch follows recent findings from the bank’s report into SME recovery in the UK, which found that transforming a greater proportion of SMEs into ‘scale-ups’, and driving a shift towards sustainability were two priorities which, if addressed, could help unlock £140bn of economic growth by 2030.
In addition, the bank has said it has created a series of new roles in Scotland to ensure these businesses are given appropriate, tailored support.
The new Local Enterprise Managers, Regional Ecosystem Managers and Entrepreneur Acceleration Managers will give businesses the guidance they need through expertise, coaching and networks that are relevant to their location and sector.
Andrew Harrison, Head of Business Banking and Entrepreneurship, Royal Bank of Scotland said: “The findings of our recent Springboard to Recovery report showed that scale-ups will be crucial to economic recovery post Covid-19. Scale-ups are 50% more productive than other SMEs, but at present only 2.5% of all businesses fall into the scale-up category.
“That’s why we’re relaunching our Royal Bank Enterprise programme to help more SMEs reach this next level of growth and productivity.
“Combined with increased representation and support for female and BAME led businesses throughout our new cohort – which we aim to ensure are at least 60% and 20% respectively – and a focus on businesses with sustainability and purpose at their core, we’re excited to be opening our doors again to support the next generation of business success stories.”
During the pandemic, the bank moved its Enterprise programme to a virtual model, offering coaching sessions, virtual events, and specialised 1-1 support to entrepreneurs.
Over the course of this year, the bank says it aims to support those on the programme through a blended model, resuming use of its hubs once coronavirus guidelines allow, in conjunction with virtual aspects of the programme that have proved most valuable to entrepreneurs over the last year.
As well as the Accelerator programme, as part of its wider Enterprise programme the bank offers its Business Builder programme, a digital qualification offered to early stage start-ups; and Dream Bigger, an education programme aimed at 16-18 year olds, encouraging them to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice.
