BUDDING businesses in Glasgow are being given the chance to become Scotland’s Startup Business of the Year.

The Virgin Startup10: Scotland competition is looking for small businesses and entrepreneurs from across the country.

After entries close on February 5, the judges, chosen from across Scotland’s business world, will identify a top 10 list before the winner is announced in March. 

The prizes for becoming Scotland’s Startup Business of the Year include free legal support from a large Scottish law firm and marketing and PR support throughout 2018 from Virgin.

In addition to this, the winner will get mentoring sessions with the competition’s judges, who this year include Bob Kieller CBE, chairman of Scottish Enterprise.

Joining him on the panel are Jackie Waring of Investing Women, Leah Hutcheon of tech company Appointedd, and Cally Rusell, founder of retail app Mallzee. 

The initiative has now gained support from Holyrood.

Paul Wheelhouse, Scottish Government Minister for Business Innovation and Energy, said: “Scotland has a proud tradition of entrepreneurship, and today we have the highest number of registered businesses recorded in Scotland since records began – an impressive achievement which is largely driven by the success of our small business start-ups.

“This is a trend that we would like to see continue and I am delighted that Virgin Start Up continue to contribute so positively to entrepreneurship in Scotland.”