Name:

Alex McKie.

Age:

44 ½.

What is your business called?

The Fusion Group of companies.

Where is it based?

Our Head Office is in Denny, with properties around Pitlochry, St Andrews and Dunblane

What services does it offer?

The Fusion Group brings together a range of hospitality-related companies, including small inns, hotels, pubs and self-catering parks. These include the Golf Inn in St Andrews and Logierait Lodges in Pilochry.

We also offer services such as facilities management, outsourced reservations, event management and venue finding.

To whom does it sell?

The leisure divisions sell predominantly to the general public and tourists coming to Scotland for short breaks and holidays. The events division has corporate clients in the pharmaceuticalsy, drinks, banking and public services sectors. We have worked in over 80 countries delivering events and conferences.

What is its turnover?

Collectively just over £3 million. The corporate division facilitates approximately £6m of corporate event spend.

How many employees?

20 full time equivalent across the group. We use freelance event specialists from time to time and ground handlers when we are doing business out with Europe predominantly.

When was it formed?

It has been evolving since 2006.

Why did you take the plunge?

I’ve been in the hospitality industry since I started washing dishes in 1992 in my local hotel, The Cairndale Hotel in Dumfries. After spending years working in sales and senior management, I wanted to develop my own concepts, projects and events businesses so I decided to go it alone in early 2006. Since then, I’ve been adding new businesses and services across the whole hospitality sector and will probably do more yet. I’m always keen to develop new ideas and take on fresh challenges.

What were you doing before you took the plunge?

I was in senior management at Crieff Hydro Resort and in sales management for Thistle Hotels. I worked with chief executive Stephen Leckie at Crieff Hydro, which provided a great training ground for me to refine my skills before I went out on my own that I will always be grateful for. I’ve worked in almost every hospitality department through the years. When you’re leading a business, you still need to be prepared to roll up your sleeves at the frontline. In recent months, I have even been back in the kitchen washing dishes to give the guys a hand on busy days.

How did you raise the start-up funding?

I had a little savings to use primarily, then a little help from four good friends who have invested in me and my ideas.

What was your biggest break?

When I was able to secure funding for the purchase of the former 18th Century Scottish Churches House in Dunblane and develop the property into Old Churches House Hotel, which today is five years old and is going from strength to strength. It needed a huge amount of work and refurbishment but the end result has been well worth it. We were lucky to have the support of the Church of Scotland in restoring the 13th Century chapel at the back of the hotel, which has now become a local landmark and visitor attraction in its own right. Fusion Group has just recently placed Old Churches House on a long-term lease to colleague and friend Andrew Seal and his partner Adele, also from Dunblane, and the potential for them to develop the business is enormous. Being able to develop the property into what it is today showed what we could do with a healthy dose of vision, determination and funding.

What was your worst moment?

When I realised that I was taking on/at risk of taking on too much and that I’d not considered the implications of this. The impact on my downtime and my family time, which is the most important thing in all of this, was too much and I needed to reprioritise. Nothing in business is worth sacrificing your health and family life for.

What do you most enjoy about running the business?

The freedom to create leisure experiences and events that I think customers of today and future generations can enjoy. I like the fact I’m the head office and we don’t have red tape. The decision-making process is quick and I’ve empowered my teams to be the same. We don’t get everything right, in fact we’ve made some howlers in the past and lost six figures on one redevelopment project that went very badly wrong but that said, we have learned a lot from these experiences and shan’t be repeating them anytime soon/ever.

What are your ambitions for the firm?

To continue to add new self-catering parks and hotel properties to the leisure division and to steadily grow our client base in the events. We are privileged to be working in this sector in a country like Scotland, which has so much to offer visitors, from spectacular scenery and great history to sport, fabulous food and drink and of course the people.

What single thing would most help?

Tax cuts, a reduction in business rates and Value Added Tax … well you can live in hope can’t you!!

What could the Westminster and/or Scottish governments do that would help?

Get this Brexit nonsense sorted out. The uncertainty that is being created and the distraction from what we could be doing is very costly for the country.

What was the most valuable lesson that you learned?

Surround yourself with the right people. Having the right team around you is everything.

How do you relax?

Boxing, gym, golf and spectator football.