Music Industry Bursary

Here's a message from Iain Hamilton of HIE  regarding showcase funding for music businesses in Highland:

There is currently a bursary scheme running for musicians or people working in music, based in the Highland Council area, which will look at contributing to the cost of showcasing - either attending a showcase, or potentially bringing in industry for a showcase.  Full details are available here:

Start Up Course

We ran another one of our increasingly popular start-up courses at the Lairg Learning Centre last week. Over the two days the 9 attendees were given a comprehensive overview of the steps to be considered when setting up your own business. Trainer Stephanie Ash from Consentia Partnership kept everyone informed and entertained; soup and sandwiches were provided by the LLC.

The new training timetable will soon be available but full details of existing courses are available here

Incidentally, the Learning Centre network are launching a programme to help people at the very earliest stages of exploring starting a business; providing the vital initial knowledge and skills to enable a would-be entrepreneur to, for example, attend a Gateway course.  

Lairg Learning Centre

Rosehall Community Fun Day

Popped in to the Rosehall Community Fun Day on Saturday.  Brilliant event with a lot of local businesses represented; including David & Tess Wilson with their jewellery and Dympna from DD Couture with her eco-friendly bags.  It was also great to catch up with Louise Boyd, formerly of the Tea Store in Ullapool; a PSYBT business from some considerable time ago.

Apologies to all for the shorts, but I did manage to cycle there.

European Business Game - Highland Final

Catherine MacDonald of Business Dynamics presents the winners trophy to Fortrose Academy.


The local Final of the European Business Game was held recently at the Town House in Inverness.

 The Highland winners, beating off stiff competion from Ullapool High School and Inverness Royal Academy, was the team "TechKnow" from Fortrose Academy and they will be representing Scotland at the EBG Final to be held in Limoges, France in July.

EBG is a business planning competition in which 10 European countries now compete and is sponsored by the Highland Council.  Across Europe, nearly 1000 schools take part every year and it is my great pleasure to be a judge at this event;  especially as Highland schools traditionally have done remarkably well in previous competitions.

For more information about EBG contact Kenny MacInnes

Lochinver Mission Project

Possibly everyone knows, by now, the success of the Big Lottery/Village SOS application by the Lochinver Mission project.   What isn't always acknowledged is the phenomenal amount of voluntary effort which goes into this success.

The commitment and drive of the Mission team was awe-inspiring.  Preparing a bid to develop a potential eyesore into an income-generating community asset in relatively short-time is not easy, even if you can work at it on a full-time basis.  To achieve so much as a team of volunteers is amazing.


Gateway merely helped to put some figures together but working with this enterprise was particularly  rewarding because of the infectious enthusiasm it generated.  The project certainly deserves its £400k and I look forward to fish & chips in the new Mission when it opens in 2011.

   
You can get the full story from the  Lochinver Mission website.
(Celebratory Photos: Roger Glover)

MIDAS Acoustic Showcase

Gateway works very closely with Hi-Arts to help the Highlands' creative talent develop their businesses.  Hi-Arts hold regular workshops and Networking events including music showcases.

 

Here's a message from John Saich, Hi-Arts Development Co-ordinator:  

The next HI~Arts MIDAS live Acoustic Showcase will be at The Ironworks (upstairs lounge), Inverness, on Thursday May 27^th. Our featured singer song writers are Claire Campbell, James Mackenzie, Maryann Frew, Moteh Parrott, Ashley Mackay.

Doors open at 7.30 and we’d love to see you there. In fact, bring a few friends too – entry is free, we’ll have a bar and it’ll be an evening of absolute Highland acoustic cool.

 For more information: Link

Student Enterprise Event - Go4it

Carol Langston and her team at Create, based in Inverness College, are hosting an event at the Longman Campus on Thursday 3rd June from 2.30 to 4.30pm to promote student enterprise.

Guest Speakers include Karen Darke, adventurer and entrepreneur; and Gordon Adam, who will talk about his experiences as a BBC War Correspondent. (There's also a bit from me but my stories are possibly less intrepid)

Gateway will be in attendance and there'll be a chance to hear about Create's business and incubation centre and meet some of the students working to develop their own businesses.

All students are welcome; for more information contact Create by email

Off Our Rockers - Farr High School

Here are the victorious and talented "Off Our Rockers" receiving their justly deserved trophies. Perched precariously on the (obviously pretty robust) rocking toys are Yours Truly, Stuart Black Highland Council's Director of Planning & Development, and Link Teacher, David Charnley.

 

The Young Enterprise Scotland Highland & Moray Final was recently held at the Newton Hotel, Nairn.

Congratulations to “Off Our Rockers”: Justine, Carly, Jess, David, George, Kirsty, Brogan & Malcolm (and Link Teacher, David Charnley who won the “Outstanding Achievement Award”). 

Farr High School not only won the Overall Prize but also four subsidiary prizes.  We wish them every success when they represent the Highlands & Moray at the Scottish Final in Glasgow on June 16th.  For more info about the team have a look at their website :  Link

 

The Final was a great evening with some amazing presentations from the 11 competing schools and I've really enjoyed my time as the  team's business advisor.  For more information about YES ( particularly, if you 'd be interested  in being a business advisor at a  local school), see the Highland & Moray website:   Link

So here we are...

The first post; the blank page syndrome. What to write? Actually there's a hell of a lot to write so where do we begin.

We're a year down the line so I have some catching up to do and there's an awful lot going on as I write so let's get started.......

So what has happened in the past year?

Gateway was launched on April 1st 2009 but we didn't exist officially until September. My colleagues (who'll be featuring quite heavily in these pages, I think) and I spent a considerable time getting to know about Gateway and what was happening in our regions.Over the year we have tried to establish networks with the business community and the other support agencies and at the same time trying to develop tools and operating procedures relevant to our areas.

Gateway has launched its Rural Development Grant offering a 75% grant towards items which will assist a new business to develop. In Sutherland we've awarded about £15k of these grants to 12 businesses.

We've also launched a Trade Fair attendance grant to help businesses market their businesses further afield.

And, if you want to see some of my colleagues and Gateway clients in action, have a look at our YouTube Video


What about the Sutherland Gateway? Well I've got an office, a desk and (latterly) a landline. I've met, at the last count, 120 starting or developing businesses and here, 35 businesses have started though Gateway in the last 12 months. I'll try and feature as many of these in the blog and also use these pages to publicise forthcoming events and opportunities. And that's the end of the first post. Simple








Kris Scott of North West Plumbing, Skerray, was one of the first recipients of Gateway's Rural Development Grant. Tel: 01641521833