Entrepreneurs graduating from the city’s first world class Accelerator Programme showcased their products and services as they presented to a select audience during a special ceremony.
The Founder Showcase, which took place recently at Elevator’s state of the art headquarters, situated in Aberdeen’s Energy Park at the Bridge of Don, marked the completion of the first cohort of participants on the unique programme.
Business leaders from across the Scotland including Wood Group Chief Executive, Bob Keiller, and Andy Willox OBE from the Federation of Small Businesses, attended the special event along with representatives from the business angels community, banks, trade support organisations and Scottish Enterprise to see the first group of high potential start-up businesses graduate from the pilot Accelerator Programme.
Programme founders came from a range of business backgrounds including energy, technology and health care, and participated in an intense 20-week entrepreneurial experience to propel their businesses onto a high growth curve with the aim of becoming investor or market ready.
Elevator staff worked closely with participants throughout the course as they spent time working on their business models, participating in workshops led by industry experts and attending keynote presentations from recognised entrepreneurs to broaden their skills and knowledge base.
Jim Cargill, chief executive officer of PlanSea Ltd who formed part of the first cohort, said: “It was brilliant to see the culmination of all of our hard work celebrated with influential business representatives from the community and an opportunity to exercise our pitching skills on investors. It’s clear to see that our business models and pitches have improved significantly with the work of the last 20 weeks on the Accelerator Programme."
The Accelerator’s Project Manager, Andy Campbell, said: “We were delighted to see the fantastic support from the business community from across Scotland for these innovative and entrepreneurial businesses.
“It has been great to see the progress that these early stage entrepreneurs have made whilst going through the programme, including refining their business model, services and product offerings in a bid to create businesses that are investor or market ready. They are more prepared to propel their business on a global level in the future.”
The second Accelerator Programme will start in January / February 2016.
To assist the learning process, Elevator’s Centre for Entrepreneurship, which is the first of its kind in Scotland, boasts advanced technology, connecting it to 55 global accelerator programmes, allowing entrepreneurs to participate in events and access help and advice on a worldwide scale.
The centre is also home for employability programmes, community driven projects, and a space were school, college and university students can learn about enterprise and entrepreneurship.