Local businesses get behind the Enterprise Island Challenge

Local entrepreneurs have given their full backing to an innovative scheme that aims to kick-start new businesses in Ayrshire.

They’ve volunteered to take part in Iain Scott’s latest Enterprise Island Challenge which is being held across three venues in the Irvine Bay regeneration area during the first week of February.

The Enterprise Island Challenge is an invitation to anyone aged 16 and over who has dreamt of starting a business but done nothing about it, to come forward and take part in ‘The Enterprise Conversation.’ A special telephone hotline has been set up and already bookings are going well.

Iain Scott has always maintained that businesses start with a conversation and not a business plan and is hoping that, as in other areas of the UK where Enterprise Island Challenges have been held, Irvine Bay's hidden entrepreneurs will make the call.

On offer is a great package of free support comprising three intensive Masterclass sessions, led by Iain Scott, to help crack the idea and build confidence and skills, plus linking participants up with local business start up services.

In the Irvine Bay area, the informal conversations will be held in Irvine, Ardrossan and Kilwinning. And joining the Enterprise Island Challenge team for those sessions will be local entrepreneurs from Ayrshire, among them Dougie Boatman, Neil Clelland-Wong and Robin Jackson.

Said Robin Jackson, who has a background in finance, enterprise and branding and is head of graphic design company Engine-Creative which he set up more than a decade ago:

“The Enterprise Island Challenge approach is a very creative and effective way to introduce people to entrepreneurship. Like Iain Scott, I also believe that the most important thing about a new business is not the idea itself, but the mind set of the person who will be running it.”

Neil Clelland-Wong who works in the family business, Clelland Landscapes, heard Iain Scott speak at an enterprise conference in Glasgow two years ago and welcomed the chance to be a member of one of the Irvine Bay Enterprise Island Challenge panels. He said:

“Iain’s approach to business start up is not the traditional one and that’s just what is needed here in Ayrshire where changing times mean we can no longer rely on traditional industries and traditional businesses being run in traditional ways.”

Said Dougie Boatman of Scotplants, a retail and wholesale nursery business he started up more than 20 years ago:

“One of the most important lessons I’ve learned since setting up Scotplants is that you have to be prepared to adapt to changing times and fashions. If you want to succeed in business, you can’t afford to be blinkered because that can blind you to other possibilities of how your enterprise could grow.”

The Enterprise Island Challenge which is being funded by Irvine Bay Regeneration Company in partnership with North Ayrshire Council and Business Gateway, is absolutely free. And people who sign up for it will not only get the chance to talk over their business ideas and dreams with panel members but may also be offered a place on the free Enterprise Island Masterclasses in entrepreneurship which will be taking place locally.

Said Iain Scott:

“Getting local entrepreneurs on board is an essential part of any Enterprise Island Challenge and I’m delighted that the response has been so positive.”

He added:

“You don’t need a business plan; you don’t need experience; you just need to be excited about the possibility of maybe setting up your own business and want to know if your idea has potential.

“Our research has shown that just getting the chance to talk things over with the Enterprise Island conversation panel can give people a tremendous motivating boost.”

The Enterprise Island conversation panels will run from 11am ― 7pm each day, as follows

Tuesday 3 February  Ship Inn, Harbour Street, Irvine
Wednesday 4 February  Lauriston Hotel, Ardrossan
Thursday 5 February  James Watt College, Lauchlan Way, Kilwinning

Simply call 0845 60 66 826 to book your place.

You can find out more about Enterprise Island Challenge at www.enterpriseisland.com or www.irvinebay.co.uk