Invest in West Lothian - May Newsletter

Celebrating Good News Stories in West Lothian

West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship Project Empowers Local Business Owners

Invest in West Lothian’s West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship project provided female entrepreneurs with the tools, support, and networking opportunities needed to help them grow and succeed in their business endeavours.

Funded by the Scottish Government’s Pathways Fund, the team offered a variety of upskilling opportunities to local residents, including two occurrences of the West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship Programme and a series of Get Ready for Investment workshops. Several exciting networking events also took place, including a Make 2025 the Year You Achieve Your Business Goals and International Women’s Day session.

Read the full story here.

Funding for Businesses in West Lothian

The Invest in West Lothian team have extensive experience of preparing funding packages for local businesses of all sizes. Each month, we will highlight a new funding opportunity that is currently available to eligible businesses in the area.

Economic Development Fund

Providing your employees with training and upskilling opportunities can result in improved performance, efficiency and morale.

With our Economic Development Fund, eligible West Lothian businesses can apply for funding of up to £5000 towards training courses delivered by the fantastic West Lothian College team. There is a wide range of accredited and non-accredited courses available in areas including:

• Management
• Business Admin
• Customer Service
• Personal Development
• Mental Health
• Environmental
• Green Skills
• IT Skills

To learn more and browse the course brochure, please click here.

Upcoming Events

We are delighted to be hosting the following free events in May:

Meet the Council: Event for West Lothian's Construction Businesses

On Wednesday, the 21^st of May, West Lothian Council’s Economic Development service and the West Lothian Construction Forum are hosting an exciting free ‘Meet the Council’ event, exclusively for businesses within West Lothian’s Construction sector. This is a great opportunity to meet with representatives from different West Lothian Council services and partner organisations, who will be answering questions, sharing resources, and highlighting how they can support your business. This is taking place from 4:00pm – 6:00pm (drop in at any time) at the West Lothian Civic Centre in Livingston.

Social Media for Business Masterclass

Our social media masterclass constantly evolves to take into account the fast-moving nature of social media and features bang up to date case studies and examples. This in person event is suitable for everyone from a beginner (or even a sceptic), to social media and marketing professionals. This full day session aims to ensure you remain ‘business focused’ with your own usage of social media. This is taking place on Tuesday, the 27^th of May, from 10:00am – 3:00pm, at the Voluntary Sector Gateway West Lothian office in Bathgate.

Jobs Fair

Whether you are looking to return to work or are simply considering a career change, come along to Access2Employment’s free Jobs Fair and meet employers from different industries in West Lothian. This is taking place on Wednesday, the 28^th of May, from 11:00am – 2:00pm (drop in at any time) at Howden Park Centre in Livingston.

To learn more and book your free space at any of our events, please click here.

If you have any questions about any of the topics covered, please email invest@westlothian.gov.uk .

Have a great month!