Ana Stewart, the businesswoman and campaigner for diversity, has been named chief entrepreneur to the Scottish government in an unpaid capacity.

Ms Stewart will succeed Mark Logan who quit last year saying he was unhappy over criticism of his role and his six-figure pay deal.

Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister and Economy Secretary, created the chief entrepreneur role in 2022 as part of the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.

She had indicated that she would not replace Mr Logan but has agreed to install Ms Stewart to advise the government on the next stage of the government’s support for start-ups.

Among her duties will be heading up a £700,000 Ecosystem Fund that will be delivered by social enterprise Inspirent, based in Hamilton.

Ms Stewart co-authored the 2023 Pathways report on supporting women in entrepreneurship and will take up her new role in July

She is a tech entrepreneur and investment partner at impact investment firm, Eos. As a serial investor she sits on a number of boards including pet wellness company Bella & Duke and identity authentication software start-up, Condatis.

Ms Stewart founded fintech business i-design, floating it on AIM in 2007. She joined the executive committee of NASDAQ listed Cardtronics in 2013 following the company’s acquisition and, in 2017, she became the first female board member of the Scottish Football Association in its 145 year history.

As chief entrepreneur she has elected not to be paid and has agreed with ministers that funds earmarked for her remuneration will be reinvested in the Scottish start-up economy.

Mr Logan decided to step down after attracting criticism, mainly on social media, for the scale of his earnings, amounting to £260,000 over two years.

Speaking after announcing the appointment today, Ms Forbes said the decision to revive the post emerged from discussions on developing the programme for startups.

Ms Stewart said she had been pushing for the chief entrepreneur role to be continued. “There should be somebody in government driving entrepreneurship,” she said.

“I have always said that role should continue. Whether it was me or not we should continue the work that Mark has done.”

She said it was essential to “provide more pathways, increased access and accelerated funding to current and future founders, whilst ensuring private and public sector are aligned.”

Founder of Ecosystem Builders Network Bruce Walker, a previous recipient, said the fund had been a “vital catalyst” for Scotland’s entrepreneurial community.

“It has allowed us to deliver targeted programmes to help entrepreneurs build resilient businesses.”

Mr Logan, who was a senior executive at search engine company Skyscanner, produced a report for the government on how to build the digital economy.

The government adopted its recommendations to put education in computer skills at the centre of policy, and to set up a series of ‘techscalers’ for startups.

However, a new report says there has been a further drop in the number of computing science teachers.