#sirtomhunter #manufacturing Scottish businessman Sir Tom Hunter told a recent gathering of start-ups and investors in Edinburgh that collaboration among business-support agencies was “working” and that firms “should celebrate the opportunities the country offered”.
Sir Tom, who started his career selling ‘trainers’ from the back of a van and ended up running a retail and property empire worth £1.1 billion at its peak, said that businesses must “ignore those who claim there is too little support or finance for young companies.
“I just do not buy it; we have fantastic support networks. Four of our universities are in the top 200 globally and, for a country of five million people, we are ‘punching above our weight’. So don’t moan about it!” Addressing more than 500 delegates at the 2013 Engage Invest Exploit conference at the Assembly Rooms, he said there were “unbelievable opportunities. If finance is not available, then firms must come up with new ideas.” He referred to the brewing company Brewdog’s ‘equity for punks’ fund-raising scheme, which raised £3 million from 6,500 investors — some paying as little as £95.
Sir Tom described himself as “an entrepreneurial anorak” and said Scotland had plenty going for it. “We need to start blowing our own trumpet, not in an American way, but in a Scottish way: understated, but recognising our brilliant ideas and innovations.”