Perthshire Artisans, the supportive platform for creatives established and run by GrowBiz Scotland, has welcomed five new Artisans to its membership. Pam Guthrie-Dawber, Lynn Shilp, Sabrin Miller, Claire Williamson and Wild Wood Bros (Hamish and Alistair Wood) all joined the curated community in July. Membership offers business support, access to the community of artists providing peer support as well as marketing and an additional market place to showcase their creations.

The Perth & Kinross Social Enterprise Group (PKSEG) enjoyed tours of three social enterprises in Aberfeldy as part of their most recent quarterly peer support meeting. The PKSEG, which is facilitated by enterprise support organisation GrowBiz, works collaboratively to develop and promote social enterprises in Perth and Kinross.

Times are difficult for many self employed business owners, and increasing costs leads to the need for increased income. GrowBiz is addressing this need with a special ‘sales’ focused session of its popular XChange networking event, which will include advice on how to find and retain customers.

On Thursday the 16th of June, GrowBiz will be celebrating 15 years of supporting rural enterprises with a special birthday event. The event is being held at Birnam Arts and will include an afternoon session with a drop-in support surgery offering 1-1 business advice, opportunities for informal networking and meeting the GrowBiz team, and an enterprise showcase. The showcase will feature a variety of local businesses owners who have benefited from GrowBiz support, and who demonstrate the diversity and innovation of enterprise in rural Perthshire and beyond.

The July Women’s Enterprise Networking event hosted by GrowBiz will be streamed live from a poly-tunnel! Attendees will be able to visit Lynbreck Croft, featured on BBC's This Farming Life, from the comfort of home and hear guest speaker Lynn Cassells’ inspiring story of how she and co-owner, Sandra, created a thriving croft in the Cairngorms National Park with no previous agricultural background or farming experience.

GrowBiz are delighted to have Willie Cameron as the guest speaker for the May XChange networking event on Thursday the 27th May from 6pm. Known as Mr Loch Ness, Willie is a leading light in the development of tourism, both at Loch Ness and the Highlands in general. As the founder of Loch Ness Marketing (LNM), he has worked with film, TV and media for 26 years and has become a sought-after speaker, mentor and motivator.