Lochaber businesswomen get companies off to a great start
| Lochaber businesswomen get companies off to a great start | |
| 15 February 2006 Three entrepreneurial women have turned their totally different interests in jewellery, horses and childcare into businesses with a little help from Lochaber Enterprise. Tracy Macdonald, 34, who lives in Mallaig, makes jewellery in a style that offers a contemporary take on traditional designs. She said: "I have always wanted to start up my own business and I love the idea of creating something from nothing. To start off with metal wires or a sheet and turn them into a three dimensional shape is really exciting. "Jewellery is quite frivolous and there is not always a demand for it, but I think I have something different to offer the market." Initially Tracy intends supplying local businesses such as jewellers, craft fairs and galleries. She also hopes the Craft Association will take her pieces for sale in various local outlets and that she will be able to take direct commissions. Her long term goals are to expand her range of products by creating larger silver smithing items such as decorative mirrors, vases, plates and goblets as well as producing drawings and paintings. Through links between Orkney Enterprise and Lochaber Enterprise, Tracy received valuable advice from Orkney jeweller Sheila Fleet about the costing of pieces and also ensuring that Tracy's business, called Fearann, is viable in the long-term. Her credentials as an innovative jeweller are certainly strong. After studying design at Cardonald College, Glasgow, with a specialism in jewellery, she obtained an honours degree in design, jewellery and silver smithing at Duncan of Jordanstone Art College in Dundee. During her third year at Dundee, Tracy won a prestigious competition to design and make a medal of honour for the Royal Association of Surgeons and Anaesthetists Society. She was also commissioned to design and make a communion plate to commemorate and celebrate the millennium for St Andrews Cathedral in Dundee. Bonny Mealand was a full-time mother for seven years before deciding to turn her love of horses into a small business. With a diploma in agriculture and years of experience working with horses, she decided to offer her services treating the hoofs of the animals, as well as providing therapeutic shoeing. Bonny, 34, who lives in Morvern and is also a retained firefighter, said: "I had to trim the feet of my own five horses because I couldn't get anyone else to do it. That's when I realised there could be a market for a service like this." She achieved an International Institute of Equine Podiatry diploma in applied equine Janet Mclntyre, who has years of experience in the childcare sector, has started a business as a registered childminder in her home in Onich. She is registered to care for up to six children under the age of 16, with a maximum of three being under primary school age and one under 12 months. She hopes to take on additional staff in the future. Janet, who can take children full or part-time and on bank holidays, completed a Scottish Childminding Association preparation course and then received confirmation from the Care Commission that she had been approved as a registered childminder. Janet, 47, who has an eight-year old daughter, received £1,500 to start the business from Lochaber Enterprise and a grant of up to £250 from the Lochaber Childcare and Family Resource Programme towards the construction of a shed for play equipment. Janet said: "Having a business like this gives me independence and I definitely think there is a lot of potential for it in this area." Charlotte Wright, chief executive of Lochaber Enterprise, said it was important to encourage women to start their own businesses as they had a huge amount to offer. | |