Purification firm cleans up with key funding win
● First Borders business to net new loan type to help expansion
A water purification company based in the Borders is to scale up and add 12 jobs this year after becoming the first firm in the region to secure funding from a new business loan scheme. Scotmas Group was founded in 1998, and the family business manufactures insect repellent and water disinfection products for global markets.
The loan was secured with help from Business Gateway Scottish Borders through Business Loans Scotland, and forms part of a £665,000 investment package that also includes a £97,000 Regional Selective Assistance grant from Scottish Enterprise, which will help Scotmas buy upgraded equipment and acquire its new 27,000 squarefoot premises in Pinnaclehill Industrial Estate, Kelso.
The new facility will allow the creation of a test and training facility for global clients and distributors, and see the business consolidate its technical teams, equipment, and chemical manufacturing facilities under one roof for the first time. Scotmas currently operates from two sites in Kelso, employing 42 people locally and a further ten in offices in Chile, Turkey, Portugal and Saudi Arabia.
MD Alistair Cameron said: “We have ambitious plans to scale up our operations in response to significant global interest in our innovative new water treatment products that have been developed alongside a number of university partners, and are now being rolled out across the Middle East and Africa… we are grateful for the significant support we’ve had from HSBC and for the help received from Scottish Enterprise and Business Gateway.”
The firm came about after chairman Derek Cameron, who had spent years working in Africa, spotted a gap in the market for a new and effective biocide – chlorine dioxide – that could protect food supplies from bacterial spoilage. He was soon joined by family members Ewan and Alistair in the business, which plans to grow into Asia and South America in 2018.
Its most recent innovation is a hydro-electric powered water disinfectant system that is now attracting interest “from across the world”.