In this episode, we dive into the fascinating journey of Kim Cameron, the visionary founder of Gin Bothy.

Often described as an accidental gin maker, Kim's journey started with jam, using Scotland's seasonal fruit calendar. Waste product from jam-making was added to gin and Jam Bothy became Gin Bothy in 2015.

Passionate about preserving the traditions and heritage of bothy culture, Gin Bothy is now one of the most award-winning producers in Scotland.

This episode explores:

- The art of creating unique flavours inspired by local influence but with national appeal

- Building a brand rooted in authenticity and rural tradition

- Lessons in scaling a craft business while staying true to your values

Whether you're a budding entrepreneur, a gin or jam enthusiast, or someone who loves a great story, this episode is packed with valuable insights and inspiration.

In this captivating episode of Miked-up: Our Women Entrepreneurs, host Alison Walker sits down with Alex Feechan, the visionary Founder of Findra, a disruptive brand dedicated to stylish, high-performance outdoor clothing for women.

Alex shares her entrepreneurial journey, from identifying a frustrating gap in the market to building a brand that empowers women to embrace outdoor adventures. They dive deep into:

- The passion and purpose behind creating Findra
- Staying true to your mission as an entrepreneur
- How Alex recognized and overcame the challenges of Entrepreneur Burnout
- Her invaluable advice for aspiring entrepreneurs

Whether you're a seasoned business owner or dreaming of starting your own venture, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration.

Tune in now to hear Alex’s story and her expert tips for navigating the entrepreneurial world!

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Alison Grieve is a multi-award winning inventor and founder of G-Hold, an Edinburgh-based technology hardware company specialising in ‘The Science of Holding’.

Alison has raised over £700k equity investment including foreign investment, and additionally over £300k in non-diluting finance.

She first invented a retractable handhold, Safetray, for the foodservice industry in 2009 to prevent accidents involving toppling trays. The Safetray patent was licensed to a US major in 2012 in a $500k deal.  She then expanded the product portfolio into mobile devices with the G-Hold range; patented, ergonomic holders tablets and phones, establishing manufacturing in Scotland and exporting over 200,000 units around the world.

Whilst continuing to lead on G-Hold’s international partnerships, Alison was appointed editor in chief at Young Company Finance.

Alison sits on the Bank of England’s East of Scotland Panel, and is an advisory board member of the Edinburgh-based start-up Robotical .

Evelyn McDonald is CEO of Scottish EDGE. Previously run by Scottish Enterprise for four rounds, Evelyn oversaw the spin-out of the competition in Autumn 2014 to the private sector-led Scottish EDGE C.I.C. The introduction of lending to the winners in Round 5 has created a revolving loan fund to support future applicants.

Prior to joining Scottish EDGE in November 2014, Evelyn had a long career at the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, and latterly the Prince’s Trust.

Evelyn is also a board member at the Scottish Design Exchange and an assessor of the Small Business Charter Award.

Mandy joined Royal Bank of Scotland 3 years ago and more recently as Regional Eco-system Manager for Scotland with a primary focus on the bank’s partnership ecosystem, enabling and facilitating effective collaborations to support businesses, customers and the Bank's Enterprise Delivery strategy.

Mandy joined after 12 years of starting and growing her own horticulture wholesale business in addition to 9 years in a family business. Mandy started her career in Human Resources in some of Scotland’s well-known organisations including Diageo, Kwik-Fit Group and The Scotsman Publications.

In this episode, Evelyn, Mandy and Alison discuss the current state of female entrepreneurship in Scotland with a focus on the Pathways Report, the challenges and barriers faced by women in business, and what needs to change in order to achieve gender parity in business start-up, support and growth.

Victoria set up My Language Connection in 2017 after the translation agency she was working for went into liquidation.

Realising there was a gap in the UK serving specialised services, Vicotria targeted Technical sectors, working with logistics, life sciences and industrial manufacturing. The Aviation Logistics Network is one of MLC’s main clients, addressing key communication issues in the supply chain.

MLC was also involved in creating awareness as part of the Covid England Explained campaign, and recently established a base in the Dubai Silicon Oasis freezone.

Other milestones include seeing turnover reach seven figures in just 5 years of operation, and having now grown to a network of more

than 1,200 translators worldwide.

While MLC has been lauded for its technology that makes their service easy and efficient for their clients, Victoria remains conscious of the need for context and empathy in translation work that machines are not yet able to replicate, and therefore one of MLC’s core USPs is working with human native speakers as translators.

Victoria won £35,000 from Scottish EDGE in 2019, winning over the panel with her exceptional leadership in driving MLC forward.

She has since received numerous awards for her success as an entrepreneur, including Young Person of the Year at the Glasgow Business Awards in 2023, and Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the Scottish Business Women’s Awards 2022.

Lisa started her company Dear Green Coffee in December 2011 after learning how to roast coffee in Australia while working as a backpacker packing coffee beans.

It was here that she discovered coffee is grown around the Equator and every origin has a different flavour and aroma.

Lisa came back to Scotland and following several bad employment experiences decided to look into coffee roasters. She found a second-hand one online, bought it and never looked back.

The company produces speciality based coffee and supplies to hospitality based businesses and online.

Dear Green is passionate about coffee as well as the environment. It pursues excellence in coffee and makes ethical choices to ensure every bean is well-considered and sourced. As a business, it carries ethical and social conscience in every element of its output, working alongside suppliers it trusts to ensure sustainability in the coffee it roasts.

As part of its ongoing commitment to be as green as possible in its operations, Dear Green is constantly exploring new ways to help reduce its emissions and tackle climate change.

Since winning Scottish EDGE in 2015 Dear Green has increased its profits and customer base year on year, and has grown its team considerably.

Lisa also founded the Glasgow Coffee Festival in 2014 and it has ran annually since - now a 2-day event welcoming thousands of attendees, and is the first single-use cup-free coffee festival.

Having worked for over 15 years in the skills arena for Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and Careers Scotland, Alison came up with the idea for Skillfluence during a sabbatical in Silicon Valley.

Whilst there, she studied at 3 different institutions and attended numerous events. The universities were so well connected with start-up culture, business, and investors that Alison knew there was a need to mirror this in the UK.

Alison got to work on making more connections to join the dots between outstanding research and real-world impact and influence.

While Alison was building Skillfluence, she was still working full-time, using her evenings and weekends to create training programmes and develop the platform. Eventually, she took the leap and made Skillfluence her full-time job.

Skillfluence is a tech-based blended learning approach to train PhD students and researchers in essential business and soft skills. It is unique, innovative and unmatched in the Higher Education market

Since its founding in 2015, Skillfluence has trained over 10,000 researchers and worked with more than 60 universities in the UK and Europe.

Miked-up "Our Women Entrepreneurs" - features the start-up journeys of some of the incredible female founders putting Scotland on the map for business innovation, and is supported by Royal Bank of Scotland.

In 2015, Tammy Koslowski turned her passion for nail art, technical cutting, fashion, and creativity into a full-time business venture. Now, House of NAF!, home to the multi-award-winning NAF! Salon, is a premier destination for clients seeking top-quality beauty services, products and education.

Under Tammy's leadership, NAF! has grown to occupy a four-storey Victorian townhouse just off of Glasgow's City Centre, which encompasses an experiential offering, renowned nail services, and an educational initiative focused on empowering young individuals in the area.

As well as collaborating with prestigious clients including Swarovski, H&M, and Tequila Rose, NAF! products currently grace the shelves of over 2,000+ salons worldwide.

Tammy's hands-on approach to problem-solving in the early days paved the foundations for what has become a much-respected name in the industry with a large and loyal customer base.

Miked-up "Our Women Entrepreneurs" - features the start-up journeys of some of the incredible female founders putting Scotland on the map for business innovation, and is supported by Royal Bank of Scotland.

Jacine Rutasikwa and her husband Paul launched their Matugga brand at the London Rum Festival in 2015. At that time, there were very few UK-produced rum brands.

However, Matugga quickly silenced the doubters with a taste that rivalled the best on the market. A trade deal followed shortly after and the Rutasikwas gave up their jobs to follow their 'side-hustle' full time.

They moved to Edinburgh so that Paul could study distillation at Herriot Watt (having subcontracted the process previously), and they opened their production facility in Livingston in 2018.

Matugga promotes itself as the product of a ‘flavour triad’, drawing on the rum-making traditions of Jamaica, ingredients from Africa and the distilling history of Scotland. It is the only Black-owned distillery in Scotland and one of only two Black-owned distilleries in the U.K.

Jacine and Paul also semi-recently closed a successful £300k crowdfund to launch their own sugar cane plantation, located on a landholding owned by Paul’s family in Uganda, which will ultimately allow Matugga to offer a ‘cane to cask’ product that with an exclusive family link.

Testament to her grit and determination, Jacince states that "when there aren't many people who look like you at the table, you build your own table".

Miked-up "Our Women Entrepreneurs" - features the start-up journeys of some of the incredible female founders putting Scotland on the map for business innovation, and is supported by Royal Bank of Scotland.

The purchase of a Social Stories Club corporate gift helps communities and the environment, every transaction results in a social impact. Social Stories gift boxes are packed full of products from social ventures, each with a fascinating story of social impact that you can read about in an accompanying story booklet.

Co-founder, Karis Gill, believes social enterprises are the future and she is on a mission to make 'social enterprise' a household term by sharing the stories behind the products through exciting gifts.

Karis has overcome numerous barriers, both as a woman in business and as a young entrepreneur, to make her goal of championing the world of social impact a reality.

Miked-up "Our Women Entrepreneurs" - features the start-up journeys of some of the incredible female founders putting Scotland on the map for business innovation, and is supported by Royal Bank of Scotland.