Orkney’s first business festival gets under way today
Four entrepreneurs will provide an insight into running a successful business when a new festival for Orkney launches today, Wednesday.
The Orkney Business Festival will bring together a mix of business people, industry experts and advisers – who will be on hand to provide advice and inspiration for anyone looking to start or grow their own business.
Running until Friday at the Pickaquoy Centre, the festival will kick off today with a session called Let’s Talk Business.
This will provide the opportunity to take part in a question-and-answer session featuring keynote speaker Stephen Leckie, chief executive of Crieff Hydro Limited, which operates eight hotels and employs more than 600 people.
He will be joined by Neil Stevenson, from Grooves, Sheila Fleet, from Sheila Fleet Jewellery, and Lewis Hill, from the Swannay Brewery. The Q&A session will be hosted by Dave Gray, from BBC Radio Orkney.
The festival is being organised by Business Gateway Orkney, Orkney Islands Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Neil Stevenson said: “The motivation for me to get involved with the Orkney Business Festival was on a couple of levels – I am by no means a business expert but I am happy to share my experiences of starting from scratch in Orkney and the different hurdles I had to overcome to develop my own business.
“It is not as difficult to set up in business as some people might believe. Good planning is key, so it would be great if this festival can help encourage more folk to go for it.”
He added: “The other interesting aspect of the festival for me was the possibilities it could present for learning from other local and visiting businesses on their own experiences of success and failure.
“No matter what stage you are in your business career, you can still learn from others. In fact it can be even more important for existing businesses to look at different ways to help their business evolve in the current market.”
The full festival programme is available here.