Aberdeen

Business Administrator

Sarah

Sarah joined the Business Gateway team in April 2019 and holds a degree in Business Studies from Robert Gordon University. With over 20 years of management experience in retail, Sarah has worked for a number of household brand names including House of Fraser and Debenhams. She has also worked in financial roles and through the years, has developed exceptional customer service skills.

Sarah works for Business Gateway part-time and is passionate about helping local businesses. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her two girls.

Business Development Coordinator

Steliana

Steliana joined the Business Gateway team in April 2017, initially helping out with evening workshops on a part-time basis before transitioning into her full-time Business Development Coordinator role.

Steliana studied Tourism and Hospitality in her home country of Romania and also studied Events Management at NesCol in Aberdeen. She has strong experience of organising and managing events and she loves working for Business Gateway due to the entrepreneurial environment of the workplace.

Start Up Team Leader and Business Adviser

Gillian

Gillian has worked for Business Gateway since 1993 – she became a Business Adviser in 2007 and has been the Team Leader since 2011. Gillian and her husband have an online retail business which they started in 2003 and therefore she is proficient in eCommerce and also the business planning process.

Gill enjoys cheering her clients on and helping them map a path to get from where they are now to where they want to be.

Start Up Business Adviser

Moira

Moira joined Business Gateway in September 2020 and has a background in retail and interior design. She has a keen interest in crafting and previously had her own lifestyle store called Rustiques which sold furniture and home accessories.

Her favourite part of the role is listening to peoples’ stories and the enthusiasm that they have about their business ideas. Moira loves being able to help her clients realise their goals and finds this immensely rewarding.

Start Up Business Adviser

Lynne

Lynne joined the team in September 2020 and prior to this, ran her own business ‘Rockstar Projects’ which offered project management services to IT and software companies. Lynne really enjoyed setting up her own business and all the tasks surrounding this such as creating a website, building a digital marketing strategy and pitching to clients – she then decided she wanted to help others do the same.

The best part of the job for Lynne is hearing about new businesses and helping them with their business planning.

Start Up Business Adviser

Diane

Diane joined the Business Gateway team in June 2019 having previous experience as a journalist, author and screenwriter. Diane has worked in marketing and organisational development across various different sectors.

As part of the start-up team, Diane loves supporting individuals at the beginning of their journey. She feels a great sense of pride when supporting them as they turn their dreams into a reality when they successfully launch their business.

Start Up Business Adviser

Donna

Donna joined the start-up team in October 2020 after working in property services for more than 13 years. As a real people person, Donna would frequently engage with new business owners who were interested in office premises in her previous role.

Donna feels a great sense of achievement when she helps her clients through the pressures of starting a business and is able to make this an exciting experience for them. She loves being part of a team with a positive and encouraging team spirit.

Start Up Business Adviser

Elaine

Elaine passionately supports businesses to take their plans to the next level and enjoys nothing more than seeing a business thrive. Living in Peterhead for most of her life she has a thorough understanding of the region, which she uses to support the town’s business community.

Elaine has also been involved in assisting with the start-up of a number of Aberdeen City and Shire businesses, including one which she worked on for five years.

Growth Start-Up Team Leader

Maryann

Maryann joined the start-up team in 2019, was soon promoted to the Growth Start Up Team and is now the Team Leader. She is originally from Detroit, Michigan but has lived in Aberdeen for over 25 years.

Prior to joining Business Gateway, Maryann bought, ran, and sold three Curves franchises so has a keen entrepreneurial flare. She also has a bachelor’s degree in International Business from the University of North Texas and an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington focused on Accounting Control Systems and spent ten years in the United States Naval Reserves in roles including an enlistee and a commissioned officer.

Growth Start Up Business Adviser

Aisha

Aisha joined the Business Gateway team in September 2017. She has a wealth of experience from her career today, including starting her own hair extensions business called Madame Hair. In addition to this, Aisha featured on Series 11 of The Apprentice in 2015.

Aisha’s background and skills lie in innovation, creativity and customer personas. She loves supporting her clients and helping them to realise their goals and watch them go from strength to strength throughout their business journeys.

Growth Start Up Business Adviser

Catherine

Catherine joined the team in January 2017 after working for Clydesdale Bank for over 30 years, where she dealt with a wide range of businesses and varying customers’ needs.

Catherine really enjoys working with her clients and helping them to achieve their goals and ambitions through delivering the Business Gateway support. She feels proud to be able to give her clients the right tools and advice to help them succeed.

Growth Start Up Business Adviser

Hayley

Hayley joined the start-up team in January of 2017 and has since been promoted in 2019 to the growth start-up team, helping those businesses already established and looking for medium level growth.

Hayley also runs her own fashion business with an extensive background in retail and a keen interest in consumer psychology and visual merchandising. Hayley loves supporting business owners and watching them become more confident and smash their targets – this is her favourite part of her job.

Growth Start Up Business Adviser

Ahmed

Ahmed has been part of the Business Gateway team since May 2019. Ahmed has worked around the globe throughout his career and has over 15 years’ experience working as an engineer. He also works as an independent consultant providing technical consultations in different types of surveying for international clients.

Ahmed is passionate about supporting local entrepreneurs and driving economic growth. He aims to remove the barriers to growth and develop leadership and strategy for SMEs.

Growth Start Up Business Adviser

Hollie

Hollie joined the growth start up team in June 2020 and brings with her over 12 years of expertise running her own award-winning businesses. Having first-hand experience of launching a start-up, nurturing rapid growth and expansion across the UK and then securing the sale of some of her larger businesses, Hollie has great insight into many of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs.

Hollie is passionate about excellent customer service, developing teams and innovation. She specialises in tourism, hospitality and creative businesses. When not working with clients through Business Gateway, Hollie also mentors entrepreneurs and teenagers who have aspirations to start their own businesses.

Ecommerce Business Adviser

David

David joined the team in 2002 and specialises in website development and best practice, search engine optimisation (SEO), multi-lingual website translation and localisation. Prior to working for Business Gateway, David was a modern languages teacher. After that, he ran a website translation/website development company online for UK businesses and managed an Aberdeenshire Council European Funded Web Project specifically for SMEs in Aberdeenshire.

David takes pride in helping his clients enhance their digital presence through a variety of tools and techniques.

Growth Business Adviser

Gordon

Gordon joined the Business Gateway team in December 2015. With a background as a business owner himself and over 40 years’ experience working in sales, Gordon is a natural fit within the team. His specialism in his role at Business Gateway is helping clients with their sales strategy and the structured sales process.

The most rewarding part of the job for Gordon is being part of an important team who are all passionate about making a positive difference to the clients they support.

Growth Business Adviser

John

John joined the Business Gateway team in 2019 as a growth adviser. John runs his own business which assists with strategy, insights, coaching, mentoring, research and development and more. With a 25 year global career in the energy and technology sectors, John brings a wealth of different skills and experience to his role.

John has a solid track record of supporting companies to identify, refine, test and deliver products and services to market(s). He really enjoys supporting his clients and watching them grow and flourish.

Growth Business Adviser

Bill

Bill joined the Business Gateway team in August 2018 and has 40 years’ experience successfully growing profitable businesses. He also runs his own management consultancy business in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, assisting with a number of elements of business support.

Bill works with a diverse range of clients in his role as a growth adviser and really thrives from supporting local businesses with their growth plans and working alongside them to help fulfil their aspirations.