Scottish Business Network

Maggie Morrison, currently Vice President and Client Partner at NTT Data UK, has a wealth of experience in IT and sales – and a thirst for travel. In the latest Scottish Business Network podcast, she shares some of the lessons from her career to date, including enjoyable diversions into the culture of the Isle of Lewis, American poetry, Eastern philosophy and Across The Universe by The Beatles. In...

Magnus Wake is one of Scotland’s finest film-makers, and has recently released his first full-length movie, Dark Sense. A tense thriller shot in Edinburgh, it’s the ambitious creation of a man who has had to spend as much time managing finance and stakeholders as he has behind the camera. His story is a fascinating glimpse of a demanding career – and the great news is that he has three more films...

The career of Anna MacDonald, a London-based musician and doctor, changed when she visited an orphanage in Iraq in 2014. The experience compelled her and colleague Alyson Frazier to establish a charity called Play for Progress, which helps children and young people who have made it to the UK as a single refugees, without family or support. Play for Progress gives them the opportunity to immerse th...

Some successful people have one career - Michelle Thomson has had at least five, and we're still counting. Originally a professional musician, she's best known from her brief but high-profile spell as an MP. Yet she has also made her mark as a senior IT executive at Standard Life and Royal Bank of Scotland, as well as proving something of a property entrepreneur. And now together with former SNP c...

After brief spells in a library and a bank, Dundonian Maggie Berry moved to London to work for a recruitment agency. It led to a high-profile career promoting diversity and the role of women in business – not only in Scotland and the UK but across the world. The founder of the Women in Technology Network, she is now Executive Director for Europe for WeConnect International, which helps women busin...

An early adopter with a love for technology and an eye for an opportunity, Matt Alder is one of the world's leading talent acquisition experts. From his base in North Berwick, on the East Lothian Riviera, his updates on trends and innovations in TA are awaited with bated breath by professionals across the globe – particularly in the US. And key to his success has been a podcast series that has so...

Lance Gauld is a self-confessed adrenalin addict who loves participating in four sports: motor racing, skiing, mountain biking and running a business. He’s the man behind Cloud Cover IT, a rapidly growing Glasgow-based company. And now he has brought his son, industrial designer Alasdair Gauld, on board to help drive the business forward. Lance and Alasdair were interviewed by Fraser Allen at Clou...

For our 21st episode, presenter Fraser Allen reviews the series to date with clips from all 20 interviewees. www.allencomms.co.uk

After making his name in the NHS and a brief spell at the AA, Simon Skinner entered the financial services sector, ultimately becoming Chief Executive of AEGON Ireland. However, personal circumstances led him to return across the Irish Sea and he has spent the past four years turning around the fortunes of the National Trust for Scotland. Fraser Allen interviewed Simon at the headquarters of the T...

Aberdeenshire-born Lorna trained with Arthur Andersen as an accountant, left to join the then-pioneering world of cable TV and then embarked on a successful career with Scottish Enterprise, ending up as President of the Americas (quite a title for the CV). She then returned to Scotland to take on the challenge of modernising the Law Society of Scotland. Vivacious and energetic, she's a natural lea...

Ask a business owner what their biggest problem is and the answer is often ‘people’. Workflows can be mapped, production lines can be automated and customer promises can be made, but if you have serious HR challenges, everything can be derailed. Step forward Stephanie Robinson. Coming from an entrepreneurial family, she created a business called Solve HR which provides bespoke HR support to organi...

In 2017, Edel Harris became the first woman to be named EY Scotland Entrepreneur of the Year. What arguably made that an even greater achievement was that she is CEO of a third sector organisation – the Aberdeen-based health and social care charity Cornerstone. Edel is a strong and charismatic leader, but also down-to-earth, which helps her carry people through times of significant change. She beg...

As a young single mother juggling a degree at Napier University with a full-time job, Hannah Taylor took the bold decision to launch a magazine. She Is Fierce was launched on a tiny budget yet the creativity, intelligence and distinctive voice of the project turned many heads. Remarkably, against all odds, Hannah has since turned She Is Fierce into a full-time job, has an investor on board and big...

Bids and tenders are critical pipelines of new revenue for some businesses. However, putting a bid together can be stressful, time-consuming and, when it doesn’t go your way, very frustrating. As someone with a wealth of experience on the client side of bids, latterly with British Gas, Andrew Morrison spotted this and, in 2014, set up AM Bid, a business focused on getting his pitch clients over th...

In spring 2019, Tomás Carruthers announced ambitious plans for a new Scottish Stock Exchange. Numerous talented people were recruited, there was a lavish launch at Edinburgh's Botanic Gardens and expectations were high. Then the project ran out of money and Tomás gathered some unflattering press coverage. So what had he been trying to do? This interview was recorded in April 2019, a few months bef...

Originally from Delhi, Poonam Gupta came to Scotland to begin married life with her husband. But she was ambitious and, after carrying out meticulous research, decided to create a business in Greenock trading paper globally. Building the company from scratch with no money to invest, its huge success is a testament to her shrewdness, hard work and talent for building trust with customers and suppli...

Rhona Baillie is the driving force behind the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice in Glasgow, which is seen as setting new standards in hospice care across the world. As CEO, she draws on a career in nursing and her earlier experiences working in a chip shop to bring people along with her in creating better ways of doing things. Interviewed by Fraser Allen at the Hospice, whilst keeping an eye ou...

Ever had to pitch to a potential client or investor, or speak at a conference? And ever felt full of dread about how you're going to do it? If so, Mel Sherwood can help. Channelling her experience as an accomplished public speaker and actress (as well as the stage-fright she has experienced as a singer) she helps people make a big impression when they most need to. We hear about Mel's journey from...

It's the 1970s. A young policewoman is standing for hours in the freezing rain in Glasgow. All she has for comfort is a jar of pickled onions. "There must be more to life than this," she thinks. It turned out there was. Today Sheila Flavell is COO of FDM Group, the only company listed on the Stock Exchange that has a married couple on the board (husband Rod Flavell is CEO). Sheila tells the unpred...

From innocent escapades as a 15-year-old 'digital shoplifter' in Glasgow to developing the highly disruptive accountancy platform Xero, Gary Turner has a fascinating and uplifting tale to tell. Inspired both by his parents and by observing life in small businesses throughout central Scotland (the financial pressures, the hopes and fears; the chipped mugs and the daily sandwich van), Gary is firmly...

George Mackintosh is a modern-day business adventurer, always looking for the next big thing – and usually finding it. A natural storyteller, his often humorous tale of shrewd opportunism is a great example to budding entrepreneurs. This interview was conducted live in front of an audience at the Caledonian Club in London by Fraser Allen. www.allencomms.co.uk

He played a key role in transforming Scottish sport, made a similar impact in Ireland, modernised the English FA and worked with brands such as NCR and Famous Grouse. Intriguingly, he also spent two hours in the company of Roy Keane after Ireland's football captain stormed out of the 2002 World Cup. He's Scotland's best-kept sporting secret and eminently qualified to write his new book, The Game C...

Clare Campbell's business, Prickly Thistle, creates bespoke tartan designs for clients across the world, woven at her mill in north-east Scotland. But beneath Clare's evident passion for the craftsmanship of her brand, lies the steady, beating heart of a chartered accountant. She is ambitious and this business is one to watch. Interviewed by Fraser Allen at the Central Court in London. www.allenco...

Russell Dalgleish was offered a career in banking but saw his future in technology. And far from wishing to be chained to a desk, he wanted to travel the world with his laptop. With his business consultancy Exolta, his role as founder of the Scottish Business Network and a plethora of investor and NED roles, he is now a very well-kent figure in the Scottish business scene, with fascinating stories...

When Christie Doran saw an appeal in a newspaper for rookies to be trained up in motor racing, she seemed an unlikely candidate. Aged just 15, not only did she not have a driving licence, she knew nothing whatsoever about cars. Seven years on, she has established a reputation as a successful competitive driver – it turns out she was a natural. But as Fraser Allen discovers, her career is also a bu...