CodeBase partners with Open University to drive entrepreneurship

The Scottish Government's flagship programme Techscaler has joined forces with the Open University (OU) in a bid to help students from all backgrounds become “the business founder of tomorrow”.

CodeBase, which runs Techscaler on behalf of the government, will work with the university to accelerate co-learning opportunities and drive start-up and entrepreneurial activity while focusing on diversity and inclusion.

Minister for higher and further education Graeme Dey said: “Entrepreneurship is at the heart of a healthy, vibrant and growing economy. In order to help deliver this, we want everyone, from every walk of life, to have the right support and skills to be inspired and equipped to be the business founder of tomorrow.”

As of 2023, the start-up ecosystem was worth around £1bn to the economy, according to the Scottish Government.

Dey added: “Our education system has a pivotal role to play in delivering this vision. Last year we published a blueprint to build on existing entrepreneurship in universities and colleges, and this hugely exciting partnership between CodeBase and The Open University opens up further opportunities to develop an even stronger entrepreneurial education offer to engage and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

The OU has 20,000 students across Scotland, with more than 20 per cent living in rural or remote areas.

Yasmin Sulaiman, senior vice president of ecosystems at CodeBase, said: “We are excited to team up with The Open University around world-class learning and innovation, and ultimately to drive entrepreneurial and start-up activity.  Importantly, we also share the OU’s ethos around opportunities for all irrespective of background or geography.” 

Left to right are Susan Stewart, director for Scotland at OU, Yasmin Sulaiman and depute director for external engagement and partnerships at OU Jane Grant 

The new partnership comes after Holyrood highlighted that Scotland's start-up nation plan is falling short when it comes to bringing businesses to scale.

Speaking to the magazine in January, Nigel Eccles, co-founder of FanDuel, the tech firm he co-founded in Edinburgh, said he had been forced to look elsewhere for money to continue growing the business.

Meanwhile, in June, Dave Hughes, founder of sensors specialist Novosound, told Holyrood, start-ups face “the valley of death”, when looking for funding to become a mature business.