Serial entrepreneur Angus MacDonald wants to inspire people to grow their businesses faster when he speaks at Entrepreneurial Scotland’s annual conference next month.
Mr MacDonald is chairman and the largest shareholder of three Scottish firm, Specialist Waste Recycling, education provider ICS Learn, and Renewable Parts, which supplies spare parts for wind turbines.
He was a lieutenant in the Queen’s Own Highlanders for three years and also worked as an investment manager at equity specialist Martin Currie before spotting a potential market and launching his entrepreneurial career.
In 1990, aged 26, he founded Edinburgh Financial Publishing, a niche publisher for the investment industry.
The business made profits of £250,000 in its first 12 months and, with the majority of the firm’s income initially coming from Asia, Mr MacDonald moved to Hong Kong. He sold the firm in 1997 for £12million and after returning to the UK became the largest shareholder in Financial News. It was sold to financial news publisher Dow Jones and two private-equity firms for a total of £79million.
Mr MacDonald then set his sights on the recycling industry. When he bought into Edinburgh-based Specialist Waste Recycling in 2007 sales were £300,000, but this has since grown to nearly £40million.
“There was a massive move towards recycling and the cost of landfill was getting very expensive,” he said, adding: “I thought there would be a sea change in the industry and there was.”
He also helped move ICS Learn, which had been providing education products since the 19th century, into the digital age.
Renewable Parts was formed in 2014 on the basis that warranties on new wind turbines would run out, creating demand for new parts.
Mr MacDonald invests heavily in forestry and has given away £1million through the Moidart Trust to help small companies grow and flourish.
He also founded the Caledonian Challenge, which has raised £15million for charity over the past 20 years.
The conference at Gleneagles Hotel on April 26 is supported by principal sponsor Cazenove Capital, as well as the Press and Journal, the Courier and Energy Voice as co-media partners. Further details are available at www.entrepreneurialscotland.com