Invest in West Lothian

Here at Invest in West Lothian, we are committed to helping businesses within West Lothian grow by providing expert advice and support. We can help with: ⭐ Business Development  ⭐ Workforce Development ⭐ Business Funding Click through to learn more! ➡ #BusinessSupport #WestLothian #InvestWL

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our first West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship networking event yesterday! 👏 It was brilliant to have so many inspiring local business women in attendance - there was a real buzz in the room! Our theme for the session was 'Make 2025 the Year You Achieve Your Business Goals!,' with our host Michelle Brown sharing her helpful tips on how to set SMART goals, identify necessary changes, and overcome obstacles. It was really interesting to hear our attendees share their goals for the year. We're excited to continue hosting exciting events like this that help local business women improve their knowledge, share ideas, and form valuable connections! Swipe through to see some pictures from the event ➡️ #WestLothian #Networking #GoalSetting

And just like that, our Women in Entrepreneurship Programme has come to an end! ⭐️ It’s been an amazing 4 weeks getting to know this fantastic group of local business women and helping them refresh their businesses and take them to the next level. We had a special guest at the final session yesterday, Sarah from the thriving local business Bonnie Braids. She kindly joined us to share her business journey and helpful tips that she has learned along the way with the group. It was truly inspiring to hear her story. Thank you and congratulations on all of your success, Sarah! It was then over to our attendees. We had asked them to prepare a short presentation that outlined their business journey so far and how they will utilise the knowledge they have gained over the last 4 weeks to grow their businesses and achieve their goals. They all smashed it! We’re very excited to see what the future holds for them all. Thank you very much to our attendees for your hard work and enthusiasm, and of course, a huge thank you to our host Michelle Brown for delivering such a powerful programme! If you would be interested in taking part in the next occurrence of the Women in Entrepreneurship Programme, please feel free to leave a comment and we’ll keep you posted! ✉️ #WestLothian #WomenInEntrepreneurship #WomenInBusiness

Are you ready to improve your selling and negotiation skills? 📢 If the answer is yes, you don't miss out on our free webinar on Wednesday, the 5th of February! During this session, Michelle Brown will be sharing her tips to help you improve your selling and negotiation skills to reach new markets. Topics covered will include: ✔️ Assessing your current selling and negotiation skills ✔️ Working through a 7-Step Sales and Negotiation Model ✔️ Qualities required to be a good salesperson ✔️ Identifying client's problems and the solution ✔️ Sales questioning ✔️ Follow up strategies ✔️ Negotiating and closing the deal ✔️ Knowing when to retract and walk away ✔️ Overcoming rejections This is taking place from 10:00am - 12:00pm, and is free to attend for West Lothian businesses. Book your space below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/g-kyvkcc #WestLothian #Sales #Negotiating

Villaggio Gelato makes artisan, authentic Italian gelato, using the finest ingredients and traditional machinery 🍨 We are thrilled to have helped the local business achieve its growth goals by providing funding and upskilling support. This included funding through our popular Digital Development Grant, which is part-funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. This was used to give the business's website an exciting update, making the online shopping experience more enjoyable for customers and attracting visitors to West Lothian and the newly opened Villaggio Gelato Beach Hut in Winchburgh. Funding was also provided through our Trade Development Grant to help the business achieve its goal of attending more events, as this would build Villaggio Gelato’s profile and introduce the products to more clients. In addition to the funding support for the business, the business owner, Marguerite, has also benefited from training and upskilling support. She participated in our first Women in Entrepreneurship Programme, which helped her gain clarity into the next stages of growing her business. Read the full case study below to learn more about the exciting business and the support provided ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/gXy8wGtU #WestLothian #Funding #Upskilling

There’s just under 1 week to go until our West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship, ‘Make 2025 the Year You Achieve Your Business Goals’ networking event! ⏳ Whether you’re new to networking or you have lots of experience, you are welcome to join us at Cafebar 1912 in Bathgate on Wednesday, the 29th of January. It’s going to be a really exciting morning, with lots of opportunities to network and our brilliant host Michelle Brown sharing her top tips on how you can stay on track to achieving your business goals. This is taking place from 9:30am – 11:30am and is free to attend for West Lothian business women. Don’t miss out! Book your space ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eN8YWpHq #WestLothian #Networking #Events

There's still time to book your space at our 'Get Ready for Investment: Becoming Investor Ready' workshop! 🎟️ This is taking place tomorrow, the 23rd of January, from 9:30am - 12:30pm at the Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian office in Bathgate. This will be delivered by Martin Aitken & Co Ltd and topics discussed will include: ⭐ Getting ready for investment, step by step ⭐ How you go about developing financial projections to capture future trading expectations and quantify the funding requirement – Profit & Loss, Cashflow and Balance Sheet ⭐ Sensitivities and key assumptions ⭐ Developing a business plan – contents and key messages ⭐ Building the business case and pitching to funders – pitch deck composition This is a brand new session, exclusively available to local business women as part of our West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship Project. Book your free space below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eCVXTDr6 #WestLothian #Investment #Funding

Are you ready to improve the digital capabilities within your business in 2025? 💻 You may be eligible for funding support, courtesy of our Digital Development and Cyber Security Grant, or you may be interested in attending one of our free events to improve your digital skills. Swipe through to learn more about the support that is available ➡️ If you'd like to request support for your business, please email invest@westlothian.gov.uk 📧 #WestLothian #Funding #Digitalisation

It's been an exciting week here at Invest in West Lothian! 🎉 As we shared previously, the second session of our Women in Entrepreneurship Programme took place on Tuesday. We then had a brilliant group of local business owners taking part in our 'Finance for the Non-Financial' workshop on Wednesday at the SPA (Scottish Procurement Alliance) Hub. This workshop was delivered by the great Jeff Lockhart from St Andrews Management Centre. During the workshop, Jeff did an excellent job breaking down and simplifying a variety of complicated financial topics. Thank you to everyone who joined us, we hope you found it helpful! If you're interested in attending one of our upcoming events, you can view our full calendar here ⬇️  https://lnkd.in/eGrG9Bbe #WestLothian #Events #Workshops

Did you know that today is Ditch Your New Year’s Resolution day? 😅 The purpose of this is to acknowledge how difficult it can be to stick to resolutions and that it is okay to let go of the more unrealistic resolutions that you may be regretting setting! Once you have decided which resolutions you want to move away from, it’s a great opportunity to get serious about your remaining goals. If you could use some help with achieving your business resolutions, join us for our upcoming ‘Make 2025 the Year You Achieve Your Business Goals!’ networking event, hosted by the amazing Michelle Brown. During this session, Michelle will be sharing helpful tips on how you can set specific, achievable, and realistic goals for your business. This is also a great opportunity to network with other local business owners, create valuable connections, and get inspiration! 📅 Wednesday, 29th of January 2025 ⏰ 9:30am – 11:30am 📍 Cafebar 1912 in Bathgate 💰 Free for West Lothian business women as part of our West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship project You can learn more and book your space here ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eN8YWpHq #WestLothian #Networking #GoalSetting