Colin Borland, public affairs manager, Federation of Small Businesses  Our manifesto for the May Scottish Parliament is focused around jobs. Many of the 200,000 self-employed people in Scotland want to move to become employers. We know the only place that the jobs are going to come from are from small business. What is stopping people taking the plunge and employing people? Half of self-employed people would like to take on an additional employee but they need more help to make it cost-effective for them. It s a daunting, even terrifying, step, but it shouldn t be. We need clearer explanation of the liabilities and responsibilities. Jobcentre Plus has a small business support service which does a lot of that work. I think this sort of grassroots work is what is most needed in Scotland and this should be the cornerstone of what Business Gateway does: asking how many self-employed people it can help through the process.  Heather Macleod, businesswoman and founder of Social Justice Foundation  If Scottish businesses are looking towards the future, they need to think about the workforce of the future and that means how we will support the unemployed. This means working with young people. We are doing a lot of inter-generational work and trying to foster more understanding of people with mental health problems; they need support from all sections of society. The private sector will create the jobs and the opportunities to stimulate the economy but in no shape or form can they replace the jobs that are being lost in the public sector. Businesses, especially those accepting grants from the Government, should give back to society by giving apprenticeships. They need to  work more with the third sector. We also need to value the older worker.  austin Lafferty, vice-president elect of the Law Society of Scotland  2011 will be a big year for the Scottish legal profession and for me personally as I take up my post as vice-president of the Law Society in May. Scottish lawyers are in the midst of a national conversation, as it were, about a new constitution fit for the 21st century. as you can imagine, among 10,000 solicitors there is more than one opinion on lots of issues, and keeping everyone together will be a big ask for the office-bearers, council and executive of the Society. However, I genuinely believe in goodwill and common sense as being among the armoury of the legal profession, so I go forward with optimism. We are still wrestling with the alternative business structure regime Tesco Law is a totally inadequate label for the firm membership and investment changes going through.Legal aid is a problem and some of my Society colleagues are working really hard to ensure access to justice and fair wages for solicitors. and day-to-day, there will still be a whole population of Scots requiring bread-and-butter legal services.  Liz Cameron, director, Scottish Chambers of Commerce  In 2011 the target must be to ensure that the culture of success experienced by many businesses in 2010 spreads throughout Scotland and that our economic recovery takes a firm foothold on the path back to sustained growth. We all appreciate this is not going to be an easy journey. We need an environment in which we are able to conduct our business freely, flexibly and fast. To enable this to happen my message to our aspiring and experienced politicians gearing up for the forthcoming Scottish elections is that we need you to be brave, decisive and effective leaders, able to tackle the difficult decisions ahead ensuring that business is truly at the centre of all your policies. It would be foolish to go for short-term electorate votes to the detriment of job creation and sustainability.  Oli Norman, founder of PR and marketing company, DaDa  I, for one, am thoroughly fed up hearing about recession and doom and gloom. In my view, 2011 is all about going for it. The only way we are going to pull our way out is to change and adapt, and there has never been as big an opportunity for business to grow as in 2011. We are investing a six-figure sum in what we are doing next year. There s a huge amount of incredibly talented people from the public and private sectors coming onto the jobs market, people whose skillset is exactly what we need. People are well aware that the banks aren t open, which means that if you want to do something you have to do it off your own resources and largely bypass the banks.  Graham Bell, managing director, Graham Bell associates, public policy consultants  Heading into a Holyrood election we have the opportunity to build a new platform for the next four years based on a belief in Scotland s ability to perform on the world stage. The real secret lies in collaboration to achieve improved performance in international markets.  We have many great players in Scotland s business team, and significant  investment in sunrise industries, renewable energy, and life sciences in particular. add in cross-party support for creating effective pathways to encourage business success and we can leave behind the perception that we cannot achieve recovery, and go for it.  Polly Purvis, executive director, ScotlandIS  Innovative use of technology will play a vital role in driving productivity gains and enabling the creation of new local businesses, export sales and skilled jobs that will fuel economic recovery. One of the key enablers of growth for the coming year will be the ICT sector. I expect to see significant levels of investment in software and IT services from the smallest local business to multinationals. Much of this will be through web-enabled or  cloud  services. This, combined with the roll-out of next-generation high-speed telecoms infrastructure, will provide businesses with new channels to market, opportunities for efficiency improvement and more ways to communicate with customers and suppliers alike. It s the perfect playing field for small Scottish companies because it eliminates geography and size barriers.  Ron Hewitt, chief executive, Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce  We must achieve firm commitments and new ways of funding infrastructure development   this offers all the wins: construction jobs, improving the prospect for attracting inward in