Businesses are helping West Lothian to flourish. We have businesses in the region that are excelling at what they do, growing and creating jobs and having a positive impact in the community too. Here is a snapshot of what some of our award-winning members are up to.

Turtle Pack

A business going from success to success is the innovative Turtle Pack. Turtle Pack is a multi-award winning swimming teaching aid designed to revolutionise the way children learn to swim. Turtle Pack is a progressional swimming stabiliser which provides kids with free movement of both arms and legs, supports the swimmer in the correct horizontal body position, allows the swimmer to progress by reducing the buoyancy and is physically engaging, allowing children to learn through fun and enjoyment. Turtle Pack is now patent pending and EU trademarked in 28 countries.

Over the past two years they have won numerous awards including Sports Innovation Challenge, Young Scottish Edge & Watt Ventures. They have also been awarded a Royal Society of Edinburgh – Enterprise Fellowship (sponsored by Scottish Enterprise). Turtle Pack are currently into the finals of the Wild EDGE Competition and Michael Harkins, Director recently won the Young Innovator of the Year’ category for the Made in Scotland Awards.

Michael said, “It is a great achievement to be awarded Young Innovator of the year at the Made in Scotland Awards. I was delighted to have won and I would like to congratulate all the finalists for their amazing efforts. I am very passionate about my sport and I want to use Turtle Pack to encourage more children to learn to swim whilst having a blast”

Uuni

Uuni is a family-run business, founded by husband and wife team Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland. The first Uuni outdoor oven was launched in 2013 and since then, a programme of innovative product development has allowed for the launch of Uuni 2S, the brand new Uuni 3 (which launched on 1st March 2017) and the upcoming Uuni Pro. Uuni experienced a successful and award-winning 2016 where Darina won the Shona Sibbald Woman in Business Award and Uuni won the Highly-Commended Entrepreneur & Business Start-Up Certificate. The success continued after having achieved 340% growth, (preceded by 235% growth in 2015), a trajectory which looks set to continue in 2017. After the success of 2016, Uuni launched an impressive crowdfunding campaign which raised more than £529,000 in five weeks, after revealing the brand new Uuni Pro oven via crowdfunding platform, Indiegogo. The campaign launched at the end of January and surpassed their already ambitious target by an incredible 1,288%.

Finnish-born founder and designer Kristian Tapaninaho said; “We have been absolutely blown away by the response and enthusiasm for Uuni Pro. We’re a family-run company with big ambition and it’s with the help of platforms like Indiegogo that we get to showcase our new products to our ever-growing community and be given the opportunity to spread the word, welcoming new Uuni fans to our channels.”

Food Creations

Food Creations, another West Lothian company, recently won the top prize at the Scottish Wedding Awards. The company won Caterer of the Year South East and Overall Caterer of the Year 2017. The awards celebrate the hard work and dedication of those within the wedding industry. The catering business has been running for 10 years and has been gradually building an excellent reputation.

Simon Preece of Food Creations said; “This is a fantastic achievement for all our team. We would like to thank all of our staff, customers, suppliers and friends for all the support and business over the last 10 years. None of this would be possible without an excellent team. From behind the scenes to front of house this team has grown in numbers and in strength.”

School Engagement

As well as succeeding at what they do, many businesses in West Lothian are increasing their school engagement to ensure the next generation of workers are skilled and informed about future career choices.

In partnership with the Chamber, Mitsubishi have ran a secondary school competition for the past 3 years. This has proven to be popular with schools, getting third year pupils thinking about product development and design. Rosie Steele from Armadale Academy, last year’s winners, has won the West Lothian Provost Award for business links in the curriculum. This was awarded due to Rosie’s engagement with the creation of the project and idea of integrating businesses into the school timetable.

Another project launched last year was Developing the Young Work Force West Lothian Regional Group who are creating more links for businesses to start school/ youth engagement. Recent businesses to take advantage of this opportunity are the Dalmahoy Hotel and Country Club, Hilcroft Hotel, Escape Recruitment, Fluid Engineering and Harburn Golf Club.

West Lothian is thriving and this snapshot is a great demonstration of the talent, entrepreneurship and drive in the business community.