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When the last of the snow finally melted away in January, the sighs of relief coming from Scottish businesses may have been a little more heartfelt than those coming from the south of the border. Not that England wasn’t badly hit by the weather at the beginning of the year, but, due to its location, Scotland seemed to suffer it for longer and was, perhaps, hit harder.
For example, Inverness, the most northerly city in the United Kingdom with a population of nearly 60,000 people, was cut off for the best part of 24 hours on the 5th of January due to closed roads, a derailment on the main rail link and the
Last year’s volatile economic climate may have seen the end of the High Street giant Borders but, for others in the book trade, it was a bumper year. Vistage Scotland member and co-founder of Bookspeed, Kingsley Dawson saw his business expand very successfully. “We had an excellent year last year with business growing by 15% which we are very pleased about,’ he says. Bookspeed offers free consultations to the gift, leisure and heritage sectors. A unique service, it advises which titles are best suited to each business and then supplies the relevant books. Well known existing clients such as Canterbury Cathedral, Yor
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Welcome to the new blog for Vistage Scotland, part of Vistage International, the world’s foremost leadership organisation for Managing Directors and CEOs. Dedicated to our Scottish members and the issues that affect them, we hope that this will be a vital resource for all the pertinent news, opinions and reviews north of the border. Vistage Scotland has been helping its members achieve their potential for the past sixteen years. In that time, we have helped our members grow their businesses at every level from local to global. One of our key strengths is that our members and the group Chairmen have years of experience working all over the world as well as dealing with the unique challenges and opportunities that can come from being based in Scotland. An integral
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Last year’s financial upheavals sparked important changes in the global business landscape but, thanks to the troubles of institutions such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, they had a special significance for the Scottish business community. This year is likely to be no less interesting with a general election, a possible Scottish independence referendum and continuing uncertainty over the financial outlook all promising, or threatening, to shake things up. Vistage members already benefit from the regular predictions of Roger Martin Fagg and, in particular, his forecasts for the economy in the Vistage white paper, The New Economy: Prospering In The New Business Landscape. CA Magazine, the magazine from the
Congratulations to Vistage Scotland member Andy Lothian who has just been nominated by Scottish Enterprise for the IoD Scotlands’ prestigious Director of the Year Awards in the Enabling the Best Use of Skills category.
The nomination follows on from Andy’s 2009 achievements, notably the opening of
Robert Begg, the managing director of Olympian furniture and Vistage Scotland member is looking forward to an exciting year in 2010. He plans to open the first Olympian Green retail outlet in Edinburgh in March. Specialising in furniture made in the UK from recycled materials, it will join his existing portfolio of three furniture retail outlets in Giffnock, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Made from reclaimed wood and produced to Rob’s design, the furniture will be sold through an outlet on Edinburgh’s Causewayside as well as through the
Vistage Scotland has plans to expand in 2010 and the launch of a Scottish Key Group is one of the first projects which will come to fruition. Aimed at senior executives who want to develop their skills and become a greater asset to their own companies and their chief executives, there is a lot of information on the benefits of being a Key Group member here. The group will be run by Vistage Chairman Gary Weston. A taster event for interested parties will be held on 28th January in the Board Room of the Executive Centre, 7-8 North St David Street, Edinburgh from 9am-11.30am. Interestingly, the people who have already signed up all work for, or have previously worked for, other Vistage members. At prese
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Gary became a Vistage chair last year and is a highly motivated individual with a strong desire to succeed, his track record has demonstrated this by substantially improving all the business operations with which he has been associated. Core strengths are ably demonstrated in the areas of Operational Process Improvement, Strategic Planning and high volume Customer Service, utilising innovative technology based solutions whilst being heavily supported by strong Commercial Acumen.
This experience has been gained across a range of industries, including Weir Pumps, Burroughs, Wang Laboratories, Scottish Enterprise, BSkyB,
