Agents
Firstport is determined to ensure we offer a good coverage across Scotland in terms of both the business support work we offer and in making sure our start up awards are distributed widely. For this reason we have appointed agents to work with us to help identify social entrepreneurs we can support.
Liz Gardiner (Fablevision - Govan)
Role: Agent
Liz is founder member and Executive Director of Fablevision, one of Scotland's longest running and most established social enterprises. Itself a cultural social enterprise, Liz and Fablevision have, over 25 years, supported the developing context for Cultural Planning and cultural social enterprise nationally and internationally. One of her main commitments has always been to support new social enterprises and emerging social entrepreneurs into being, through network development, partnership working and applied training programmes. With over 30 success stories under her belt (including award winners like PACE, Birds of Paradise, Royston Road Project, Bolt FM, Neilston Development Trust and Linthouse Urban Village), Liz knows how to spot a social entrepreneur in the making.
Margaret Layden (Playbusters - Parkhead)
Role: Agent
Margaret has a strong work background in both the housing and voluntary sector having worked across both for the past 20 years. She is currently Project Manager of Playbusters, a highly successful charity based in the East End of Glasgow. Margaret’s main role when first employed by Playbusters six years ago was to facilitate a change of governance within the organisation, which was originally a working group of public agencies and limited community representation, to become a totally community led organisation. The Board is now comprised of parents from six distinct areas within the East End. With the support of the Board she has developed a number of interventions and educational opportunities to the benefit of local people, accessed substantial funding and developed a wide range of partners. Over the past two years the organisation has been developing their route into social enterprise, mainly through their multi award winning, Easy Spanish programme. She is highly committed to social justice values, development of local people and has a commitment to support social enterprise initiatives.
Alan Tuffs
Role: Agent
Alan Tuffs is a founder member of the Small Town and Rural Development Group (STAR) – a community development practice focusing on community strategic planning and community engagement largely though STAR’s Community Futures projects – working mainly with local community organisations and support agencies across rural and urban Scotland - has been involved in local community development for over twenty five years – beginning with a ten year involvement with the West Calder Workspace group of community businesses set up to help with the regeneration of a (former) mining village in West Lothian.
Colin Roxburgh
Role: Agent
Colin Roxburgh works in community development, mainly in rural Scotland.
He is a founder member of the Small Town and Rural Development Group which for the last 10 years has helped communities to prepare Community Action Plans, set up Community Development Trusts and develop a range of social,
economic, environmental and cultural projects. His background is in community and venture development, previously working for the Local Enterprise Advisory Project, Community Business Strathclyde and the Centre for Community Enterprise in Canada.
Niall McShannon (Clydesdale Community Initiatives - Lanark)
Role: Agent
Niall began his working life as a bin man for Westminster City Council. He qualified with a certificate in Community Education from Jordanhill College in 1993 prior to working with the young single homeless for three years. His next move was to a befriending project for young people, he established a new service in the Clydesdale area and soon moved to Lanark with his Family. After nearly ten years in Childcare, Niall set up Clydesdale Community Initiatives in response to requests from some young people who wanted to build a community garden. CCI has since developed as a thriving social enterprise with a range of Landscaping, woodcraft and social care services and products.
George Greenshields (Coalburn Miner's Welfare Society - Coalburn)
Role: Agent
George Greenshields has been a volunteer in the Coalburn Miners’ Welfare for 33 years. In 2000 George set up a steering group to look at starting up a One Stop Shop within the building of Coalburn Miners’ Welfare. In 2004 the One Stop Shop opened after securing £650,000 in funding. To date we have managed to secure over a Million Pounds worth of funding. In May 2007 George became the Project Manager of the One Stop Shop and works with Helen Donnelly the Centre Coordinator. Over the last two years the income for the One Stop Shop has grown by approximately 260%. George is also the Chairman of the Coalfields Social Enterprise Network.
Howard Wilkinson
Role: Agent
Howard Wilkinson has had a wide range of business management, marketing and selling experience, both in the UK and internationally. He spent 22 years working and learning in large companies including Mars, Black and Decker, Chase Manhattan Bank and British Aerospace. He then joined the real world of small and micro business in 1994 when he set up a business development organisation - Howe Associates - to engage in collaborative rural business activities. Together with his wife he also set up Petrie Fine Foods in 1998 to produce vegetarian and latterly gluten free food, which is sold primarily at farmers' markets or directly to consumers.
Judith Lowes
Role: Agent
Judith’s background is in brand management at Lever Brothers Ltd, part of Unilever.
She has spent the last 16 years in the Third Sector using her marketing and sales skills to build successful corporate partnerships with companies as a corporate fundraiser and manager for charities including Save the Children, Capability Scotland (Scotland’s largest disability charity) and the National Galleries of Scotland.
Paul Zealey
Role: Agent
Paul Zealey is a founding director of pza and leads on its policy and practice work. For ten years, Paul has been senior consultant specialising in employability, community regeneration and the third sector.
From 1998-2000 Paul was a full time consultant to the Scottish Enterprise Network, based with Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, advising on mainstreaming economic inclusion, including business development support services for the social economy.
Leanne Godfrey
Leanne Godfrey is Programmes Manager of Claverhouse Group, a social enterprise based in Dundee which operates throughout Tayside. Claverhouse is Tayside’s leading provider of employability services for unemployed adults, providing high quality guidance training and support leading to sustainable employment opportunities for sustainable communities.