Appendix 1 - Business Support Landscape
Perth and Kinross Council · 26 August 2026
Back to Economy and Infrastructure Committee — 26 August 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Appendix 1 The Business Support Landscape The Business Support Review found that Perth and Kinross benefits from a comprehensive business support ecosystem, delivered through strong partnership working between Perth and Kinross Council, funded providers and national agencies. The typical business lifecycle stages are illustrated below: Examples of typical support interventions at each stage are provided below: Stage Typical Support Idea Schools, entrepreneurship, enterprise education Start-Up 1to1 sessions, baseline templates, peer support, grants, premises Early Growth Advice, mentoring, digital adoption, export readiness Scale-Up Investment, exporting, property expansion Mature Innovation, recruitment, skills Anchor Business Supply chains, community wealth building Innovation/ Succession Renewal Succession, decarbonisation, diversification
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Perth and Kinross businesses access support from a range of organisations at various stages of their lifecycle. Collectively these organisations provide access to: • Advice • Business accelerators • Equity-raising support • Funding • Innovation support • Investor-related support • Inward investment services • Mentoring • Networking opportunities • Sector-specific expertise • Skills support • Specialist interventions Business support is currently delivered through: Organisation Primary Focus Perth and Kinross Council (direct delivery) Business engagement, investment, grants, planning, licensing, commercial property, business intelligence and economic development, equity-raising support (programme) Business Gateway (funded services via procurement) Start-up support, business growth advice, workshops, one-to-one support, specialist advice, rural business support via Outreach Advisers Elevator UK (funded services via procurement) Business accelerators GrowBiz (funded services via agreement) Rural businesses, micro businesses, mentoring, peer support, young entrepreneurs, and administration of two sectoral groups Scottish Enterprise Innovation, productivity, internationalisation and high-growth businesses Scottish Development International Exporting and inward investment
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Skills Development Scotland Workforce development and skills VisitScotland Tourism business support Supplier Development Programme (funded services via Partnership between Local authorities and Scottish Government) Public sector procurement support Chamber of Commerce, FSB and other partners Networking, representation and specialist advice The diagram below provides an illustration of business support ecosystem in Perth and Kinross:
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Whilst the breadth of support available across Perth and Kinross is significant, the review found that businesses often engage with multiple organisations as they grow and develop. Whilst support organisations generally work well together, evidence gathered through the business survey, partner engagement and ecosystem mapping suggests that businesses can sometimes find the overall landscape difficult to navigate. This does not reflect a lack of provision. Rather, it highlights the importance of effective signposting, strong referral pathways and coordinated communication between providers to ensure businesses can access the right support at the right time.