What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?
I travel a lot with work and Sri Lanka has to take the number one spot - it’s paradise and the people are lovely. However, despite all the travelling I love Scotland the most, and some of my most memorable holidays have been right here discovering the less trodden paths of the Highlands and Lowlands. It’s a different kind of paradise - often without the sun.
When you were a child, what was your ideal job? Why did it appeal?
It changed from week to week, swinging from an astronaut to a scientist or a detective. I read a lot of science fiction as a child!
What was your biggest break in business?
You never forget your first sale, but for me I think my biggest break was one of the first tenders I won. I will never forget that feeling of delight when the call came through. In the scale of things it was quite a small tender, but it gave us the confidence to start going up against the big boys and win.
What was your worst moment in business?
You must have a few dark days to really appreciate the good ones. Probably the worst day was getting called in by a customer to be told they wouldn’t be purchasing from us anymore as they would be going to a Chinese supplier. That was a pretty low point, but we turned it around.
Who do you most admire and why?
My parents - they worked their way up from nothing, investing everything into the business to make it a success. Also Violette Szabo – I read her story as a teenager and greatly admired her courage and fortitude against great evil.
What book are you reading and what music are you listening to?
I have three books on the go at the moment, including The Lighthouse: the mystery of the Eilean Mor Lighthouse Keepers. For music I use Spotify and my niece shares her music with me. I do like Bastille!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
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