Meet Elaine Jackson who works as a Business Adviser for Business Gateway.
Elaine grew up in East Lothian and still lives here with her husband and 16 month old son. Elaine loves the sense of community in East Lothian, the beautiful scenery; whether it’s in the hills, the woods, the coast and all the historic sites – all of which Elaine described as ‘great to explore with our little boy.’
Elaine studied Event Management and then spent 10 years in the events industry, producing and organising everything from conferences to marathons. Elaine said: “After helping to start and run a family business I saw the role of Business Adviser pop up and got the job. I started with Business Gateway in January 2019 and since then, I’ve been able to provide start-up and early stage growth advice to local businesses and social enterprises. This role gives me the opportunity to hear lots of different business ideas and help business owners navigate all aspects of business and involves cross-departmental and cross-agency working to find the best solutions and support.”
“Business Gateway is a free and confidential advisory and signposting service for businesses. It’s a really interesting role as we never quite know what we’re going to be discussing with clients each day. We see everyone from dog walkers to retailers, yoga instructors to manufacturers and can cover everything from which legal structure might be best for them, taxation, how to market their goods or services, how to develop a website and how to find their customers. Every day is different so it certainly keeps us on our toes!”
“Since the pandemic hit, we have spoken to a number of people looking to start their own business after being made redundant as well as businesses struggling due to the restrictions that have been in place. If anyone would like to know more about Business Gateway or would like to access our online services, they can do so at www.bgateway.com which has a wealth of sector reports, webinars and tutorials.”
Thanks to funding made available through the covid business recovery investment fund, Business Gateway are about to launch an Expert Help consultancy scheme. Local businesses can apply for 1 to 3 days with an expert consultant to gain help with topics such as innovation and new product development, exporting and importing, public sector procurement, leadership and team coaching, financial planning and forecasting, website development and strategy development. Elaine said: “This is a really exciting scheme to be able to offer to our local businesses to assist them coming back after covid restrictions even stronger. We also offer a DigitalBoost programme for businesses who want to improve digitally.”
Business Gateway is open and we’re seeing clients, albeit it virtually for the time being. If you or anyone that you know is thinking about starting up a business or is looking to grow an existing business, we’d be more than happy to chat to them and can be contacted on bgateway@eastlothian.gov.uk. Follow the Business Gateway Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BGEastLothian to get up to date with latest news and webinars.
