Business support services and schemes are available to help you whether you are planning to start a new business or want your existing business to grow.
To improve competitiveness and innovation there is a broad of range of support available through the Scottish Executive and other economic/business development organisations in Scotland.
There are lots of ways they can provide support and expertise.
These range from help and advice on:
• The day-to-day aspects of running a business, including finances and legal issues, finding suitable property and the right equipment.
• Growing your business or becoming more efficient by offering practical advice on topics like hiring new staff, developing new ideas and using e-business and the internet effectively.
Although much of the help on offer is available to all businesses, some support isn't. Where this is the case, your business will have to go through an application process, and meet a set of criteria.
Access
Business support services and schemes can be accessed by contacting the organisation you think can provide relevant help for your business directly.
However, if you are unsure what support you may need, or what is available to you, a part of the service offered by one-stop shop organisations - like Business Gateway - is assistance in working out exactly what help you need.
To access detailed information on all the services and schemes offered by economic development and business support agencies, the most useful starting point are the organisations' websites.