-
Share
48-Strong Scots Entrepreneurship Delegation Bound for Lisbon
Programme of activities includes attendance at the Portuguese capital’s annual Web Summit tech conference & a pitching showcase in front of international investors.
The 48-person delegation of Scotland-based entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders features 34 founders and startup leaders that will travel to Lisbon, Portugal for a programme of activities including attendance at the Portuguese capital’s annual Web Summit tech conference.
Billed as “The World’s Premier Tech Conference”, Web Summit takes place between 13-16 November, with over 2,300 startups and over 1,000 investors in attendance.
The trip is supported by the Scottish Government, enterprise agency Scottish Development International (SDI) and Techscaler, the startup support programme run by CodeBase.
The startup cohort programme aims to making connections with the international startup community, peer-to-peer learning, investor engagement, and learning best practices from the Web Summit conference and local startup success stories such as Unbabel.
In line with the Pathways report, commissioned by the Scottish Government earlier this year, this programme will have a strong focus on addressing the barriers and challenges women face in entrepreneurship, including professional mentorship, peer connectivity, access points to relevant support organisations, fundraising best practices and investor-facing opportunities.
Chartered accountants Johnston Carmichael and Thorntons Law have joined as sponsors of the project, enabling Foras to offer financial subsidies to support the cost of accommodation and flights for participants’ children (with partners), based on learnings from past programmes and the Pathways report.
The Lisbon trip follows the success of similar trips to Silicon Valley in April 2022, Helsinki in Nov 2022 and NYC in April of this year.
The visits stem from Mark Logan’s Scottish Technology Ecosystem Review in 2020, with Logan stating recently, with regard to the Foras model, that “To build world-class companies, startup founders should always be outward-looking, learning from best-practice techniques and frameworks from around the world.”
Caro Melendez, Foras Co-Founder, said: “We’re excited to bring together a richly diverse cohort, not only in the focus and stage of business growth but also in age, ethnicity, gender and lived experience. Selected from 106 applications from across this amazing country, our delegates are a true illustration of Scotland’s eclectic entrepreneurial ecosystem”
“We know the trip will bring inspiration and professional opportunities, but the ‘Foras’ model also encourages trust, openness and fostering peer relationships within the group”
“The cohort will return with invaluable experiences, new connections and a global mindset that we hope will benefit the Scottish startup ecosystem as a whole”
Startup incubator CodeBase has also partnered with the initiative, supporting seven female startup and ecosystem leaders from their Techscaler membership community to join the Foras cohort.
Recommended reading
- Glasgow’s New Open Data Hub Offers Insight into how the City Operates
- UK Cyber Strategy Calls for More Powers to Combat Cybercrime
- UK Government Cybersecurity Strategy Seeks to Build Digital Defence
Kelly Gardner, Head of National Community at CodeBase, said: “Techscaler exists to support fledgling and growing startups, and a key aspect of that is signposting to the amazing opportunities across the ecosystem. We’re excited to be able to amplify and support this delegation, and expose our members to new opportunities through our collaboration with Foras”
The Foras cohort will experience the vibrant culture of Lisbon, have quality time with established global startup success stories and be part of unique networking opportunities with entrepreneurial representatives and investors from around the world at Web Summit. The week will come to a close with a unique opportunity to pitch their businesses at an exclusive investor showcase event.
The Foras Cohort selected is:
Anne Marie Alexander of Within Eve
Beena Sharma of CCU International
Elaine Ford of Electric Explorer
Jo Halliday of Talking Medicines
Karen Robinson of Three Robins
Rachael Brown of Creative Entrepreneurs Club
Startup leaders from the Techscaler Community are:
Elizabeth Pirrie of AccelerateHER
Lingsay Wong of Data Understood
