Scotland Alumni National Conference 2026
Thursday October 22nd 2026
Scotland Alumni National Conference
Highlighted speakers:
Gerry Docherty Managing Director, Circulus
Gemma Atkinson Founder, Culture Economics
Professor Angus Laing FRSA Executive Dean, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University
The next stage for you and your business: practical support for Scottish SME leaders
Join us for a full-day conference designed for Help to Grow: Management alumni, current participants and SME leaders across Scotland.
Running a business rarely leaves time to step back and think about what comes next. This conference will give you the space to reflect on your priorities, explore new ideas and access practical support to help you make confident decisions for the next stage of your business.
Across the day, you’ll explore topics including funding and investment readiness, finding and converting customers, building stronger teams, using AI effectively, exporting with confidence and navigating the support available across Scotland’s business community.
Through keynotes, workshops, panel discussions and facilitated roundtables, you’ll hear from SME leaders and specialists sharing real experiences, practical approaches and lessons learned along the way. You’ll have the chance to connect with fellow business leaders, reflect on your own growth priorities and discover the support, networks and opportunities available across Scotland’s business community.
Agenda
09:30 Breakfast and registration
Tea, coffee, and networking.
10:00 welcome address
Professor Angus Laing FRSA Executive Dean, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University
10:10 Building opportunity, clarity, and credibility after the Help to Grow: Management course
What does sustainable growth look like after the Help to Grow: Management Course? In this keynote, alumnus Gerry Docherty will share how Circulus has evolved since he completed the programme by redefining its purpose, strengthening its brand, and creating new opportunities for growth.
Drawing on Circulus’ rebrand, B Corp certification and clearer sustainability proposition, Gerry will explore how strategic thinking, external support and strong networks helped shape the company’s next chapter. His story offers practical inspiration for SME leaders looking to sharpen their direction and take confident steps towards long-term growth.
Gerry Docherty Managing Director, Circulus
10:45 Culture Compounds: the 3-question check for business growth
The way your team communicates, collaborates and responds to pressure can become one of your greatest strengths – or your biggest barrier.
In this keynote, leadership expert Gemma Atkinson will introduce a simple three-question framework to help SME leaders understand whether their culture is enabling people to perform at their best or quietly holding the business back. Through the lens of Safe, Seen, Supported, you’ll explore how culture influences communication, engagement and performance, assess your own organisation’s culture, and leave with practical actions to build a stronger, more resilient business.
Gemma Atkinson Founder, Culture Economics
11:15 When is investment the right tool for growth and how do you become investment ready?
Growth doesn’t always require external finance, but knowing when external funding could help accelerate your ambitions is an important decision for any business leader.
In this panel discussion, Scottish SME leaders and funding specialists will explore how to assess whether investment is the right route for their business, what funders and investors look for, and how to prepare before starting those conversations.
The panel will share practical insights on becoming investment ready, from building a strong business case and understanding your numbers, demonstrating commercial potential, strengthening your team and creating a clear strategy for sustainable growth. Panellists will also explore how preparing for funding or investment conversations can strengthen the business whether or not external finance is ultimately secured.
Mandy Bailey Relationship Manager, Scottish EDGE
Fraser Maitland Enterprise Manager, University of the West of Scotland
Fiona Robertson Associate Director, Corporate Finance, KPMG
Angela Prentner-Smith Managing Director, This is Milk
Colin McNally Managing Director, CJM Lumina
12:00 Lunch
13:00 Workshop session 1
Generating and converting leads for Scottish SMEs
Finding new customers can feel unpredictable, but sustainable growth comes from having a clear and repeatable sales process. This session will help SME leaders identify the right prospects, recognise opportunities and build confidence in moving leads from first conversation through to conversion.
You’ll learn how to:
- Define your ideal customer profile and focus time and energy on the prospects most likely to convert.
- Spot buying signals, qualify opportunities and move the right prospects from interest to proposal.
- Negotiate, close and follow up so that sales conversations feel clearer, more confident and more valuable for both sides.
Andrew Hough Founder and Director, Institute of Sales Professionals
Empowering your people through job crafting
This workshop introduces job crafting – a practical approach that helps employees and managers make small changes to how work is designed, creating more meaningful roles, stronger engagement and better performance.
You’ll learn how to:
- Understand what job crafting is and how it can help employees manage demanding work, access the right support and feel more engaged in their roles.
- Learn how to identify opportunities for job crafting by looking at tasks, workload, development needs, autonomy, feedback and support.
- Leave with ideas for supporting teams to use job crafting as a route to stronger engagement, wellbeing, performance and innovation.
Colin Lindsay Professor and Head of the Department of Work, Employment and Organisation, University of Strathclyde
13:50 Movement break
14:00 roundtables
You will have the opportunity to join a facilitated roundtable discussion on a topic that matters most to you:
- Sustainability, circularity and purpose-led growth
- Expanding into new markets
- Building your business network
- Navigating Scottish business support
- Making time to work on the business, not just in it
14:50 movement break
15:00 Workshop session 2
AI for SME Marketing
AI can save time, but only when it understands your business, your customers and your brand. This practical workshop will help SME leaders move beyond generic AI-generated content and learn how to use AI more strategically from creating stronger marketing ideas and campaigns to repurposing existing content and improving everyday marketing activity.
You’ll explore how to:
- Give AI clearer information about your customers, offer and brand voice, so marketing content sounds more specific, useful and recognisably your own.
- Use existing business material, such as reviews, enquiries, emails and past content, to generate campaign ideas, plan content and create stronger marketing assets.
- Leave with practical ways to repurpose content, spot and edit common “AI tells”, assess which tools are worth using, and introduce AI consistently across your team.
Dr. Jonathan Ashong-Lamptey AI Trainer
Ethan Clarke-Wooster Business Development Executive, Coaley Peak
Exporting with confidence: finance, cash flow and getting paid
This session will help SME leaders understand how to prepare for overseas opportunities, manage the financial realities of exporting and make more informed decisions when taking their business into international markets.
You’ll learn how to:
- Understand the cash flow cycle of an export order, from securing the work through to getting paid.
- Explore how export finance, insurance and guarantees can help reduce risk and support international growth.
- Hear first-hand insights from a Help to Grow: Management alumni who has successfully exported as a Scottish SME, and learn what to consider before pursuing overseas opportunities.
Lara McGrath Export Finance Manager, UK Export Finance
16:00 LEssons learned and Closing remarks
16:30 Doors close
Please note: speakers, timings or format of our events may change due to circumstances beyond our control. We will inform delegates of any changes at the earliest opportunity.
Exhibitors
Scottish EDGE is Scotland’s largest business funding competition, supporting innovative, high-growth-potential entrepreneurs and businesses. Delivered twice a year, it provides funding, mentoring, training and access to business support and industry expertise. Since launching, Scottish EDGE has awarded over £32 million, helping ambitious businesses scale, create jobs and contribute to Scotland’s economy.
The Coaley Peak® team will lead the practical AI marketing session helping SMEs move beyond generic AI content. Through live examples, attendees will learn how to understand customer language, generate stronger campaign ideas, repurpose existing content, maintain a consistent brand voice and make better use of AI tools.
The Data Lab is Scotland’s innovation centre for data and AI, hosted by the University of Edinburgh. Through hubs in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, it drives innovation through collaboration, develops data and AI skills, and supports Scotland’s data science community. It helps businesses maximise value from data and AI.
The Help to Grow: Management Course consortium, led by Newable Advice in partnership with Enterprise Nation and the Association of Business Mentors, delivers the programme’s mentoring element. Together, they support SME leaders to strengthen leadership capabilities and drive growth, combining business expertise, tailored mentor matching, a dedicated platform and professional mentoring standards.
Resources
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Enquiries
If you have any questions, please get in touch by email at HTGM.Events@smallbusinesscharter.org or contact the Small Business Charter by phone on 020 7634 9584.
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