News, opportunities and helpful tools
Stay up to date with the latest news affecting rural business owners including, funding opportunities and helpful tips from the GrowBiz team.
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Perth & Kinross Beyond Scotland Market Development Grant
Grants of up to £3,000 are available to fund projects that will enable businesses to expand their market overseas and into other parts of the UK. Find out more and apply here.
Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards
Entries for the 2025 awards are now open until 28 May. Find out more here.
Carbon Literacy for Rural Industries
This one day course is offered on a quarterly basis for £200 per person. Find out more here.
Creative Scotland National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations
The grant is to support creative activity that runs for up to 18 months. Apply at any time here.
Regional Food Fund 2025/26
Grants of between £1000 and £5000 for small-scale, collaborative projects that contribute to the sales and promotion of local food and drink. Find out more and apply here.
Creative Scotland’s Open Fund for Individuals
The funding is designed to support periods of research, development and/or delivery of creative activity for up to 24 months. Find out more and apply here.
Outer Hebrides Business Development Scheme
Grants of £3,000 for full-time businesses and £1,500 for part-time businesses in the Outer Hebrides, for up to 50% of eligible costs. Find out more here.
Scottish Thistle Awards
The Scottish Thistle Awards are now open for applications from outstanding tourism and events businesses. Entries close 28 April. Find out more here.
Highlights from Regional EDGE for Perth & Kinross
Five businesses took away awards of between £10k and £50k at the first Perth & Kinross Regional Edge finals on Monday 24 February
ACOSVO Leadership Exchange Programme
This programme pairs leaders from across sectors to improve leadership capacity between peers. The closing date for applying is 14th March 2025. Find out more here.
New Perth Academy to Develop the Next Generation of Leaders
Perth Leadership Academy will work with a group of emerging leaders from the private, public and third sectors to help equip them with the skills they need to boost the leadership capability in their own organisations and help them work more effectively with other partners.
HIE Young Business Capital Grant Fund
For young businesses and social enterprises in the Highlands and Islands area, who have been trading for less than five years. Find out more here.
Outer Hebrides Digital Support Scheme (OHDSS)
This scheme aims to help small businesses in the Outer Hebrides develop and implement new digital systems by means of funding, mentoring and other support. Find out more here.
Powering Futures – The Tayside Circular Economy Challenge
The Challenge aims to support young people (aged 16-24) in businesses and organisations as they develop circular solutions to challenges. Find out more here.
Cycling Tourism Facilities Fund
Tourism businesses, communities, and social enterprises in the Highlands and Islands Enterprise region can apply for funding of up to £25,000 to develop and enhance the cycling tourism facilities in the area. Find out more here.
Innovation Argyll and Bute Fund
Grants of up to £10,000 towards innovation and R&D projects for small or medium sized businesses and social enterprises in the area. Find out more here.
GrowBiz Team Members Travel to Zamora for RURACTIVE project
On 16 September, team members Graeme and Becca travelled to Zamora in the Northwest of Spain, a city and municipality close to the Portuguese border, to attend a 3-day Knowledge Transfer Workshop and Peer-to-Peer Exchange with the Dynamos and Technical Partners involved in the RURACTIVE project.
Renfrewshire Council Business Training Support Grant
Up to £2,000 is available to businesses in Renfrewshire involved in manufacturing or business-to-business services, to help cover employer and employee training that's required as part of a specific business development project. Find out more here.
HIE Green Grant Fund
The Green Grant Fund from HIE is for businesses and social enterprises in the Highland Council area. The funding is a non-repayable grant of up to £250,000, which will cover between 10% and 40% of the total cost of a project that reduces the applicant’s carbon emissions. Find out more here.
Advanced Innovation Vouchers
Advanced Innovation Vouchers are open to small and medium sized Scottish enterprises for research and development collaborations. Find out more here.