Royal Bank of Scotland Helps Drive Entrepreneurship in Scottish Rural Communities

Royal Bank of Scotland has partnered up with key farming and rural youth bodies to offer an extension of its Entrepreneur Accelerator programme to rural communities.

To foster greater entrepreneurship within Scottish agriculture and rural communities, Royal Bank of Scotland is working with the Scottish Association for Young Farmers (SAYFC), the Rural Youth Project (RYP) and the NFU Scotland Next Generation to offer an extension of its Entrepreneur Accelerator programme.

The pilot project will see the bank take its Pre-Accelerator course out of its city hubs in Glasgow and Edinburgh and through a mix of online classes and satellite sessions in towns, offer learnings to help those in rural communities begin their enterprise and entrepreneurship journey.

Over the course of eight weeks, individuals will complete modules in subjects such as Mindset, Early Stage Business Model Canvas, Customer Validation and Development, and following graduation, will have the opportunity to participate in the fuller 16-week course provided by the bank.

Janice Cuningham, the Entrepreneurship Development Manager for Royal Bank of Scotland in the West of Scotland, said: The importance of Scotland’s agricultural sector can’t be underestimated – the Royal Highland Show alone brings in £65m to the Scottish economy. Our Entrepreneur Accelerators have already assisted agriculture related businesses but this new partnership is designed with agriculture and farming in mind, thanks to the input and work with the SAYFC, NFU Scotland and RYP.

“Importantly, this partnership will also help create further collaboration and peer to peer learning, as well as help businesses identify channels of funding. Earlier this year the bank published the Rose Review, an independent review into female entrepreneurship, and it showed that only one in three entrepreneurs are women. That disparity is especially acute in the rural and agriculture sectors. We hope that initiatives like this will encourage more young people and women the chance to start their business or take the next step in developing their idea.”

Find out more about the Royal Bank of Scotland Entrepreneur Accelerator.

Source: RBS