The Scaling Up Summit aims to bring together Scottish investors and SME business leaders to address the challenges facing scale-up businesses.

The Scaling Up Summit is taking place on 29 March 2023 at the Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa Edinburgh. The summit aims to spotlight scaling-up strategies, putting a finger on the pulse of Scotland’s budding industries.

The audience will hear from leading voices in the investment community, including Calum Paterson, Scottish Equity Partners’ managing partner, and Jane Martin, managing director of innovation and enterprise at Scottish Enterprise.

With opening remarks and welcomes from Magnus Llewellin, editor at The Sunday Times Scotland, and Sarah Roughead, interim CEO at The Scottish National Investment Bank, the event will proceed with a series of panels and fireside chats.

In one of the fireside chats, Ana Stewart, chair of the Women in Entrepreneurship Review, will sit down with Carolyn Jameson, chief trust officer at Trustpilot, to discuss her experience as an entrepreneur and investor, and the recent publication of the independent review commissioned by the Scottish Government entitled Pathways: A New Approach for Women in Entrepreneurship.

Magnus Llewellin, editor at The Times Scotland, said: “Business people with big ambitions can face many hurdles as they seek to attract the financial support that is vital to help them scale up and achieve their visions for the future.

“So we are delighted to be joining forces once more with The Scottish National Investment Bank team to highlight the challenges and opportunities both businesses and investors can encounter as they go for growth.”

Willie Watt, chair of the Scottish National Investment Bank, added: “There is a clear opportunity for Scotland to convert many growing businesses into ones that can achieve global scale, building on our long heritage as a society of innovators.

“This conference aims to shine a light on this opportunity and to help the leaders of these businesses to learn from the experience of those who have gone before them, and to hear how the investment community can support this growth.”

The summit will address the criticality of scaling from three crucial perspectives: investors, SMEs and the Scottish economy at large. Ms Roughead will outline the bank’s key priorities when it comes to investing in scalable businesses, while Ms Martin will examine supporting scalable businesses beyond finance.

Meanwhile, Gillian Bowditch, columnist at The Sunday Times Scotland; Alastair Banham, CEO of pureLiFi; Jeanette Forbes, CEO of PCL Group; and Darina Garland, co-founder of Ooni will look at the challenges for scalable businesses, asking - what are the key barriers to securing investment, and what indicates that a business is ready for scaling?

And Calum Paterson, managing partner, Scottish Equity Partners, will analyse the current landscape for scaling businesses in the Scottish economic climate.

Further information for the event is available at https://times-event.com/scalingup/#/