Quality of life tops list of reasons to set up shop in Scotland

Scotland’s quality of life is the most appealing aspect of setting up and running a small business in Scotland, according to new research of Scotland’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Nearly three quarters of Scottish SMEs (71 per cent), as part of a YouGov survey commissioned by online retail giant Amazon, have cited Scotland’s good quality of life as the most appealing aspect of setting up and managing a small business north of the border.

Scotland’s feel-good factor as a place to do business is further reinforced by the fact that nearly three quarters (72 per cent) of the country’s SMEs think Scotland is a good place to set up and run a small business.

Aside from its quality of life, the other most appealing aspects of doing business in Scotland are good access to skilled labour (31 per cent) lower operational costs compared to the rest of the UK (30 per cent) and access to business advice and support (29 per cent).

In addition, the grumbles are few and far between. Four in ten (41 per cent) SMEs don’t think there is anything unappealing about Scotland as a place to set up and run a small business.

However, despite the positive endorsement offered by Scotland’s entrepreneurs, Scotland still lags behind the rest of the UK when it comes to start-ups. In 2016, Scotland had 50 new business registrations per 10,000 of the adult population in comparison to the UK figure of 67 (excluding London).

The survey results have been published on the back of the second annual Amazon Academy in Scotland, a free event designed to equip SMEs with the skills they need to compete in a constantly growing digital economy. Over 500 hundred small businesses and entrepreneurs turned up to the Academy at the SECC in Glasgow on 17th April, to hear from a range of experts and successful SMEs offering advice and support for growing their business to reach a global audience through digital tools and services.

One of those success stories is Karen Riddick, founder of Second Nature in Dumfries, which exports Fair Trade products across Europe through Amazon Marketplace from her family home in rural Scotland: “Quality of life has always been an important factor in the drive to succeed with my own business. What’s so great about services like Amazon is that if you run an online shop it doesn’t really matter where you live - all you need is access to suitable storage, broadband and a courier service. When I first started this business I lived on Islay which is a remote island off the west coast of Scotland - it was such a revelation to know that you don’t have to move location to have an online business! I suspect that services like Amazon can actually help to reverse some of the problems associated with rural economies - because this approach enables people to live in the place they love.

“Scotland is a great place to live, and it’s clearly a major factor in convincing entrepreneurs to start and grow their business north of the border,” added Doug Gurr, UK Country Manager, Amazon. “A clear driver of this good quality of life is the size and beauty of rural Scotland which offers budding entrepreneurs a compelling reason to live and work within these rural communities. Over the past 20 years, we’ve seen opportunities for rural entrepreneurs transformed through e-commerce, better delivery of services and growing access to fast broadband. However, it’s just the beginning, and shown by a recent report we commissioned which found that unlocking the digital potential of rural areas in Scotland could add between £1.2bn and £2.5bn annually in Gross Value Added (GVA) to Scotland’s rural economy and at least £1.44bn to rural business turnover.”