Elevator’s new CEO Rachel Ross, who moved up to the chief executive role earlier this month, has set her sights on taking the entrepreneurship and business support group to new heights in Scotland, while actively considering expansion in other parts of the UK.
Elevator partners with enterprise agencies, local government, universities, and the corporate sector to deliver programmes designed to accelerate growth for entrepreneurs, startups, and SMEs.
Founded in 2001, Elevator’s team operates across urban and rural Scotland, with a focus on community and regional engagement, supporting more than 9,000 startups over the last five years, positioning Elevator as one of the most significant drivers of new business creation in Scotland, in addition to supporting over 3.500 SMEs during that timespan.
Elevator CEO Rachel Ross said: “If you’re an entrepreneur or founder who wants to start or grow a business, and whether you’re in one of the main cities, urban fringes or fragile remote rural communities, we engage and support local entrepreneurs and small businesses on their growth trajectories.”
Rachel Ross added: “If we have a USP, it’s our ability to co-design best-of-class programmes with industry partners, working collaboratively with other ecosystem players, and building on our longstanding experience and expertise on the entrepreneurial scene to help Scotland’s regional economies flourish and create transformational impact for business owners.”
Elevator’s list of industry partners includes Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Business Gateway, Scottish Government, local government, Scottish Development International (SDI), Shell, Shetland Arts, Scottish EDGE, Pathways Forward, and the University of Dundee, and CEO Ross says there will be an increasing focus on building the number of private sector organisations, and universities and colleges Elevator partners with:
“What we’ve demonstrated in recent times is an agile and empathetic approach to curating programmes, accelerators, and events with multiple collaborating partners, and it’s this collaborative approach that is producing such strong results and outcomes. While we continue to work alongside organisations like Business Gateway, we see a big shift to how we can work alongside university, college, private sector, and membership organisations to help them deliver entrepreneurial-focused initiatives.”
In 2024, Elevator initiatives included the University of Dundee’s Centre for Entrepreneurship including the related Academic Accelerator, Scottish Enterprise’s Rural Leadership Programme, Digital Skills Tayside, SDI Amazon Accelerator, Regional EDGE in Dundee and Angus, IMPACT! programmes in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dundee via Scottish Government Ecosystem funding, Digital Skills for Tourism for Highlands and Islands (HIE), and the E3f programme for pre-start female entrepreneurs in Glasgow, Dundee, and Moray, funded by Pathways.
Rachel Ross said: “The UK is already braced for tough economic headwinds and building business resilience while unlocking opportunities will become essential requirements for businesses in 2025. Entrepreneurs are telling us that the economic environment is challenging, whether that’s access to finance, digital and AI skills, product development, or international market strategy and commercialisation – all areas that our team can assist business owners with.”
“And while we’re industry sector agnostic,” said Ross, “we are seeing a lot of activity in clean energy, agriculture innovation, and e-commerce.”
Elevator, which reported revenue of £5.2 million in 2024, has a headcount of 37, with a leadership team including Andrew Burnett (Deputy CEO), Susan Dowds (Finance Director), and Roz Taylor (Operations Director). The Board is chaired by Brian Williamson, with Sandy Kennedy and Graham Morgan as Non-executive Directors.
