Working together
Supporting entrepreneurs’ ambitions
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Business Gateway and Scottish Enterprise work together to support ambitious businesses through a growth pipeline. Business Gateway offers advisory support to all businesses and where a business in a key sector can demonstrate via a realistic business plan their ambition and potential to grow significantly and create jobs, further support may be available from HIE to accelerate this growth. An example of this is Beinn An Tuirc Distillery, based on the Torrisdale Estate in Carradale, South Kintyre. Niall Macallister Hall and his wife Emma are in the process of setting up Kintyre’s first craft gin distillery. Beinn an Tuirc, meaning ‘hill of the wild boar’ will be the first distillery of its kind to produce the unique ‘Kintyre Gin’ by using water from natural sources and power being produced by the estate’s hydroelectric scheme. The recipe will be inspired by the natural botanicals that are synonymous with the Kintyre area. Niall explained: ‘Business Gateway was critical in assisting us with our business plans for the new gin distillery and thereafter referring the project on to HIE due to the growth potential of the business idea. ‘We are also in the process of recruiting a graduate through the Scot Grad, programme that HIE introduced us to. This will be pivotal to the creation of our new Kintyre Gin and gaining expertise we might otherwise not have had.’