Launched in November 2020, The Skills Collective is a virtual head office giving clients access to the senior level professional services they need to achieve their business goals. 

Founders Sarah-Jane Dale and Karen Nichol believe that businesses of all sizes should have access to the tools and resources they need to achieve their goals regardless of scale or industry. They recognised that not all businesses are equipped with those resources in-house and instead rely on strategic partnerships with external experts, so they created The Skills Collective as an end-to-end support solution. By combining a wide range of skills in one place The Skills Collective provides senior level business support for start-ups, SMEs and third sector organisations throughout Scotland, and beyond.

The Skills Collective works with clients who have ambitious goals, but they don’t have in-house access to the skills and experience in their organisation. Not all businesses are large enough or are reliant upon funding cycles, to directly employ senior level professionals in areas of sales, business development, marketing or training. Some may wish to eventually, others don’t; but still need a way to tap into these skills and others like business planning, strategy development and project management. That’s where The Skills Collective comes in.

This unique business support solution offers a highly flexible approach, recognising that one size doesn’t fit all. Businesses pay for the support they need, when they need it, whether that be for a one-hour advice session, a large project over a finite period with very specific objectives, or in the form of ongoing support with a variety of tasks and projects carried out each week or month. The Skills Collective aims to work as an extension of their client’s team, as enthusiastic and committed to achieving the goals set as their clients.

Close and effective collaboration is an integral part of The Skills Collective’s success and is one of the five core values that provide the foundation upon which the business is built. Those values – collaboration, innovation, excellence, passion and personality – are what allows the team to realise their vision of helping ambitious businesses of all shapes and sizes do more with what they have.

As a virtual head office, all the support The Skills Collective provides is fully remote with client meetings being carried out via video conferencing platforms or over the phone, and all work being done remotely. The virtual nature of delivery means we there is no geographical limitation to the scope of partnerships that can be engaged in, and the team can, and does, work with clients across Scotland and beyond. In the last year, The Skills Collective has worked with nearly 30 different businesses from sole traders and start-ups to SMEs across 11 different sectors including third sector, local authority, education, hospitality, leisure, food & drink and the creative industry.

Given how much virtual technology the business community has embraced over the last two years to make continued working possible for many, it seems likely that appetite for partnerships of this kind will continue to grow as businesses begin to understand the scope of what’s possible through virtual collaborations. This is a trend that bodes well for The Skills Collective, already an award-winning business after only a year of trading having been awarded the Start-Up Business of the Year 2021 award at the prestigious Business Women Scotland Women in Business Awards in November.

The team are proud of such recognition and just as proud of the relationships they’ve built along the way, none more so than with their local Chamber of Commerce. The pair say, ‘The team at Forth Valley Chamber of Commerce are exceptional at what they do and have been a great support to us on our journey. They are enthusiastic cheerleaders of all their members and take genuine pleasure in connecting people. We love being part of such an inspiring and welcoming community, led by Lynn Blaikie and her team.’

For more information about virtual head office support visit www.skillscollective.co.uk