Picture perfect Perthshire town, Comrie, has been named the 5th most entrepreneurial town in Scotland by the Federation of Small Businesses.
Around 14.2% of the town’s population is self-employed, behind online Pittenweem in Fife, Tarbet in Argyll and Newtonmore and Ullapool in the Highlands. There are around 200,000 people who are their own boss in Scotland, which is more than the number of employees in our NHS and Local Authorities.
Scottish Conservative MSP, Liz Smith, has welcomed the findings but believes that infrastructure support, primarily digital, is needed in rural areas to ensure that even more people have the ability to set up their own company.
Commenting Liz Smith MSP said:
“Entrepreneurs and the small businesses they run are vital to our economy. SME’s account for nearly a third of all private sector employment in Scotland and should be given the support from Government to grow.
“Comrie has an impressive number of self-employed workers and these figures would appear to indicate that this is a pattern in small market towns across Scotland.
“Whilst the entrepreneurialism shown by those in Comrie is impressive, things can always be improved. Better digital infrastructure, especially broadband and mobile internet, would be a huge boost to the small businesses in the area and could help increase the number of people becoming their own boss.
“However, instead of encouraging small businesses in places like Comrie the SNP are hitting them with substantial rates hikes making it harder for them to flourish. With the right support, success stories like Comrie, could be replicated across Mid-Scotland and Fife.”