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Start-Up & Growth

Angus is a great place to start or grow a business. It has a growing entrepreneurial community, a strong base of existing businesses across food and drink, tourism, engineering, energy and the creative industries, and access to a range of free support – from one-to-one business advice and funded consultancy through to grants, loans, property, and recruitment help.

Whether you’re sitting with a business idea, newly trading, or looking to take an established business to the next level, Angus Council and its partners are here to make that journey as supported as possible. This page sets out the key support available at each stage – and where to go first.

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Business Planning

Every successful business starts with a plan – and revisits it regularly. A well-crafted business plan is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal: it helps you secure funding, track progress, respond to market changes, and plot your next phase of growth.

A strong plan typically covers your objectives and strategy, sales and marketing approach, and detailed financial forecasts. It shouldn’t sit in a drawer after you’ve written it – it should evolve with your business.

Business Gateway provides comprehensive business planning support, including a template, planning tools, and links to further guidance. You can also download their business planning app to work on your plan wherever you are.

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Starting Up in Angus

 

Starting a business is one of the most exciting things you can do – and one of the most uncertain. The good news is that you don’t have to figure it all out alone.

There is substantial free support available locally to help you test your idea, build a business plan, understand your legal and financial obligations, and take your first confident steps.

Business Gateway Tayside is the first port of call for anyone starting or considering starting a business in Angus.

Their services are completely free and available to businesses at any stage, from initial idea through to established trading. Based locally with outreach advisers across Angus – including a dedicated presence at the Harbour Visitor Centre in Arbroath – Business Gateway offers:

  • Free, personalised one-to-one business advice – in person, by phone, or by email.
  • A ‘Planning to Start’ online tool that takes 10 minutes to complete and provides an instant personalised toolkit of key resources.
  • Business plan guides, templates, market research reports, and online guides.
  • Workshops and masterclasses throughout Angus covering business planning, financial planning, marketing strategy, becoming an employer, and more.
  • Webinars, networking events, and peer learning opportunities.
  • Specialist ‘Expert Help’ – funded access to qualified professionals for advice on specific areas such as HR, legal, digital, or marketing.

Business Gateway handles around 2,100 start-up enquiries each year. Their advisers have supported hundreds of Angus businesses, from farmers diversifying into tourism to engineers setting up precision manufacturing firms. Whatever your sector or background, they’ve likely seen something similar before.

If you’re aged 18 to 30, there is dedicated support available to help you explore and develop your business idea.

Business Gateway has a specific offering for young entrepreneurs, with dedicated connections, advice, and events tailored to younger business owners.

The King’s Trust (formerly The Prince’s Trust) provides a package of training, mentoring, funding and ongoing business support for young people aged 18 to 30 who want to start a business.

Young Enterprise Scotland has several education programmes aimed at giving young people an understanding of how business works through running their own businesses.

GrowBiz’s SEED programme (based in Perthshire but accessible to Angus businesses) offers specialist support for young people aged 18 to 25.

These are some of the key practical steps for anyone setting up in Angus:

  • Registering your business – as a sole trader, partnership, or limited company – with HMRC and/or Companies House.
  • Understanding your tax obligations, including VAT registration if your turnover is likely to exceed the threshold.
  • Checking whether you need a license for your activity (see our Business Guidance page).
  • Taking out appropriate insurance – public liability, employer’s liability (if you employ anyone), and professional indemnity where relevant.
  • Opening a business bank account and setting up basic bookkeeping.
  • Writing a business plan – not just to secure funding, but as a live document to guide your decisions (see Business Planning above).

Growing Your Business in Angus

 

Growth looks different for every business. It might mean taking on new premises, hiring your first employee, expanding into new markets, developing a new product line, or simply improving productivity and profitability.

Whatever growth means for you, Angus Council and its partners can help you get there.

Invest in Angus work closely with businesses of all sizes and sectors. We can:

  • Talk through your growth plans and connect you to the most relevant support organisations.
  • Help you find suitable premises – including office space, industrial units, and development land at sites including Orchardbank Business Park, Brechin Business Park, and Zero Four Business Park.
  • Connect you to our free recruitment service to help you find the right people as you grow.
  • Advise on Modern Apprenticeships and work experience programmes.
  • Signpost you to relevant funding opportunities, grants, and loans.

Beyond start-up support, Business Gateway provides dedicated growth support for established businesses, including:

  • Intensive one-to-one growth advising to help you identify and act on your next phase of development.
  • Expert Help – free funded access to specialist consultants in areas such as HR, digital strategy, legal, marketing, finance, and operations.
  • Workshops and masterclasses covering growth-stage challenges including leadership, scaling, AI in business, and entering new markets.
  • Regular networking events and the annual Tayside Transform Business Festival – a major free event bringing together entrepreneurs, businesses, and support partners from across the region.

Co-funded by Angus Council, the Tayside Expert Help Programme gives SMEs in Angus access to free specialist support from experienced, qualified professionals.

It’s available to Scottish-registered businesses with fewer than 250 employees that are looking to grow, and covers a wide range of topics including strategy, operations, digital transformation, HR, and marketing.

This is a particularly valuable route if you need specialist advice that goes beyond what generalist business advisers can offer.

For businesses with genuine high-growth ambitions, Scottish Enterprise provides specialist, ongoing support through a team of dedicated advisers.

Scottish Enterprise focuses on helping companies scale, innovate, and compete internationally. Their support includes:

  • Strategic business development advice on productivity, team development, new products and services, and market expansion.
  • Innovation support – helping businesses use new ideas to drive growth, with a bespoke innovation roadmap, access to R&D networks, and guidance on innovation grants.
  • Internationalisation support through Scottish Development International (SDI), with specialist advisers in over 30 countries worldwide.
  • Connection to GlobalScots – a network of senior Scottish business leaders around the world who provide advice, connections, and mentoring.
  • Access to Innovate UK Business Growth services for innovative SMEs with high-growth potential.

Scottish Enterprise tends to work with businesses that are already trading and have clear growth ambitions, rather than at the early start-up stage. If you’re not sure whether you meet their criteria, Invest in Angus or Business Gateway can help you assess the best fit.

If your growth plans depend on having the right people with the right skills, Skills for Growth is a free, fully funded service from Skills Development Scotland (SDS) that can help.

Available to businesses with between 5 and 250 employees, it offers up to two days of free business consultancy to help you:

  • Understand the skills your workforce currently has and the gaps that are holding you back.
  • Create a detailed people skills action plan aligned with your business growth strategy.
  • Identify the most appropriate and cost-effective training and development routes

SDS’s employer engagement executives have worked with over 1,000 employers across Scotland. The service is designed around your business – not a generic template – and can be delivered at a time and pace that suits you.

What Angus has to offer:

 

Beyond advice and funding, Angus has practical, tangible assets that make it an excellent place to grow a business:

  • Business premises – office and industrial property to rent across Angus, searchable via the Angus Property Search, plus development land at key sites for businesses looking to build their own facilities.
  • Free recruitment support – Angus Council’s recruitment service helps businesses find the right candidates at no cost, with job advertising, candidate screening, and support for onboarding.
  • Modern Apprenticeships – a cost-effective route to growing your workforce while investing in locally trained talent.
  • Superfast broadband – Angus has one of the strongest rural broadband programmes in Scotland, with connectivity available across many rural and semi-rural areas that would previously have been poorly served.
  • Sector networks – through the Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce, Angus Tourism Cooperative, Appetite for Angus, and more, Angus businesses benefit from a genuinely connected business community.
  • Access to finance – the right finance at the right time can make or break a business. See our funding page for an overview of the main funding opportunities available to Angus businesses, from early-stage loans to equity investment for high-growth companies.

Support at a Glance

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