Business mentor Margaret Gibson wins Queen’s Award

The chief executive of Women’s Enterprise Scotland has become the first Scottish woman to win the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion after being recognised for spending more than 20 years mentoring young people across Scotland.

Enterprise support professional Margaret Gibson has been a voluntary mentor with Young Enterprise Scotland and business incubator Entrepreneurial Spark and spent more than 20 years with the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, rising to deputy chief executive.

She was honoured along with 10 Scottish other winners of the award.

Dundee-based Ms Gibson said: “I am delighted to receive this award - I feel it is not really for me but for all of the young entrepreneurs I have worked with.

“One of the things that I feel most strongly about is the need for young entrepreneurs to make links and connections with people.

“That way, rather than trying to make it on your own, you’re part of a big family of people.”

Another recipient of the enterprise promotion award is Nelson Gray, who is based in Roslin, Midlothian.

He has been recognised for directly providing numerous start-up and early stage entrepreneurs with funding, support and mentoring.

The other eight awards have gone to companies for achieving outstanding overseas sales growth.

They include Cumbernauld-based raincoat manufacturer Mackintosh Ltd and Edinburgh travel firm Rabbie’s Trail Burners.

Mackintosh Ltd manufactures traditional raincoats from its two factories in Cumbernauld and Nelson, Lancashire.

The company sells through distributors in the US and Japan, and via agents in Europe. It also has flagship stores in London and Tokyo.

Rabbie’s Trail Burners provides scheduled mini-coach tours, holiday packages and other travel services for international consumers and trade.

The award panel noted that its passenger numbers on scheduled tours in 2013 reached 61,065 - an increase of 36 per cent from 2011.

With 90 per cent of its clients based overseas, Rabbie’s sells through its multi-lingual website, tour operators and local agents overseas.

Other international trade winners include Motherwell-based Consarc Engineering Ltd, which designs, manufactures and installs atmosphere furnaces, and Aberdeenshire-based Aubin Ltd, a supplier of chemical solutions for the oil and gas sector.