Small island firms now available in one place

A Tiree woman who recently started her own small business, Tiree Tea, selling island-inspired teas, was counting on this summer to get things properly up and running, writes Richard Mason.

But when it started to become apparent that people would not be able to get out to shops, Rhoda Meek began to think of what other small island businesses would be doing at a time when they do not have the resources to compete with national brands.

Using her experience as a product manager for a software company, she developed a website where other businesses can post a link to their website and a short description of their service.

In a tweet, Rhoda put the idea out there on Tuesday March 17, and hundreds of likes and retweets later, the isle20.com directory was born.

She said: ‘The site now has 117 island businesses on there with almost every island in Scotland represented, but I am chasing up the ones who are not yet represented.

‘There are so many people selling a great variety of unique products on Scottish islands and many rely on tourism to survive. We are now into the thousands of hits on the website, just within a few days.

‘The most popular search on the site so far has been gin. We did have one search for toilet paper, but unfortunately there isn’t a business selling that on here yet.’

The name is a play on words between the singular word for island and a shopping ‘aisle’, and the year of inception.

If you want to support a small island business, head over to isle20.com and browse the wide selection of unique products available.

Financial costs of the enterprise, such as hosting the website, have been taken on by the Scottish Islands Federation and Rhoda wanted to thank them for their support.