By Lee-Anne Gillie, Entrepreneur in Residence, Borders and Dumfries and Galloway Colleges

I’m a business owner and consultant based in the Scottish Borders, and my work has always centred around helping people and organisations grow with clarity and confidence. Through my role as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Borders and Dumfries and Galloway Colleges, I’ve been focused on bringing real-world enterprise into colleges in a practical and accessible way.

Last week saw the culmination of eight months of collaboration across our South of Scotland colleges, university partners and local ecosystem, coming together for the inaugural Start-Up South Final. Nine pitches. Nine very different ideas. But every single one solving a real problem.

It was also wonderful to be able to invite one of my colleagues, Bayile Adeoti, who is the Entrepreneur in Residence for the Glasgow region colleges and also leads and delivers The First Minister of Scotland’s Start-Up Challenge with The King’s Trust. She spoke about her work across both roles — a brilliant opportunity that aligns closely with the students we are supporting and highlights the wider national support available to young entrepreneurs.

One of the standout moments was hearing from Lilly Fox, who took part in the Borders College programme last year and has since launched her business, secured funding, bought her first van, won the Converge College Creators Fund and gained her first customers, all while still studying at college.

Lilly’s company, LJ Fox Haulage Ltd, is tackling age and gender imbalances in the haulage industry and her tagline alone deserves recognition: “If it fits, it ships.”

Across the South of Scotland, I’ve been supporting initiatives such as start-up competitions and events, enterprise workshops, pitching opportunities and local business engagement activity.

The aim is simple: to help students see that entrepreneurship isn’t “something other people do” it’s something within their reach, whether that’s starting with an idea, developing a side hustle or moving into self-employment.

Much of the work involves organising workshops that help students develop ideas and build transferable skills, as well as connecting them with local entrepreneurs/businesses. These activities create safe spaces where students can test ideas and understand that enterprise skills, creativity, problem solving, resilience and communication are valuable whether they go on to start a business, work within one, or innovate inside an existing organisation.

In a rural region like the South of Scotland, it’s especially important that students can see pathways that allow them to build their futures locally. By connecting education with the local business community, we can showcase the strength of local businesses and help students recognise the opportunities that exist right on their doorstep, encouraging more young people to build their careers here in the Borders and across the region.

Through workshops, competitions and side-hustle activities, we’re giving students opportunities to test ideas, gain inspiration and build confidence. These experiences often lead to further mentoring, networking and even work experience opportunities.

At the same time, we’re also giving local businesses the opportunity to meet emerging talent, engage with students and see first-hand the creativity, skills and potential coming through Borders College. It also allows us to listen to the needs of industry, helping shape learning so it stays relevant to the real world of work.

When education and industry connect in this way, everyone gains – students develop belief in their abilities, businesses gain access to future talent, and our region builds a stronger culture of entrepreneurship and innovation.

*****

Lee-Anne Gillie, is one of five Entrepreneurs in Residence, appointed through a programme forming part of the Scottish Government’s Entrepreneurial Campus Blueprint, supporting the drive to make entrepreneurship a core life skill across education and helping colleges prepare students for Scotland’s future economy.

Funded through the Scottish Government, the College Capacity Building programme has been developed and delivered by Interface, Scotland’s innovation support organisation, in partnership with  Connect-Ed Network, the entrepreneur in residence network.  It has also been shaped with input from Colleges Scotland and the College Development Network (CDN), which will share learning outcomes across the sector.

Ends