Since its creation in 1681 The Royal Company of Merchants of the City of Edinburgh has been involved in business and commerce. However, over the years the Company’s activities have increasingly concentrated on education and charitable work with the young and the frail and elderly. The Enterprise Fund is the result of an ambition to re-establish the business philanthropy shown by early members of The Royal Company of Merchants providing benefit to the City of Edinburgh and the surrounding area.
The Enterprise Fund, working closely with Queen Margaret University, encourages entrepreneurship and business birth by providing modest financial assistance and mentoring to individuals who, through background or life chances, may not otherwise have the ambition or opportunity to start their own business.
The long term objectives of the Fund is to further community development and encourage employment. It also provides an opportunity for Company members to act as mentors allowing individuals to benefit from the huge resource of skill, experience and knowledge held within the Company. The Fund has invested in and mentored many exciting young people with great business ideas and helped them get established and grow.
Corporate and personal donations from Edinburgh businesses and Company members are gratefully received to provide the capital for the Fund.