Edinburgh entrepreneur helps singles ditch dating apps and meet their match the old-fashioned way

An Edinburgh entrepreneur is helping singles meet their match by ditching dating apps and finding love the old-fashioned way.

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After talking to friends about their frustrated search for love during months of lockdowns Laura Smyth was inspired to help them.

Single pals told the 33-year-old they were fed up spending all day working at home on their computers only to spend their evenings glued to phone screens swiping left and right.

Laura Smyth matches people with their dream partner

Ms Smyth, from Edinburgh, got out her little black book and started helping to pair up couples from her circle of friends.

Now she’s providing a busy, bespoke matchmaking service as an antidote to the disappointments – and dangers – of the online dating scene from being ghosted to catfished.

Dubbed the Cilla Black of the north, Ms Smyth meets every one of her potential clients and vets them to verify identification.

She said: “My friends were fed up with swiping wasting hours having the same banal conversations with people they were never going to meet.”

“It occurred to me while we were having a good moan that through work I’d been finding the right jobs for people and the right candidates for companies.”

“As soon as I started putting feelers out enquiries were coming in from across the country for consultations.”

After almost a decade in the recruitment industry matching people to the right jobs she has found her calling – matching people with their dream partner.

The young entrepreneur puts the success of the start-up down to common sense and business skills. But it helps that she is a true romantic at heart, she says.

“I don’t use any fancy algorithms or artificial intelligence, only good old-fashioned matchmaking skills - putting people together who have the same values, ambitions, and have complementary personalities.

“I firmly believe there’s a soulmate out there for everybody. But the recruiter side of me knows making a real match is all about asking the right questions.”

“I am with the clients every step of the way and can be as hands on or hands off as they want.”

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Match Made in Scotland offers face-to-face consultations, a range of membership packages and singles can also take part in live interactive virtual cocktail masterclasses.

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