My name is Alan MacGregor from Uddingston and I am the managing director of Silver Birch Interiors.

• What does your business do?

We are an award-winning Interior Design company specialising in luxury kitchens within the mid to top end sector of the market.

• Where are you based?

The Silver Birch Interiors showroom is based within Hurry Bros on London Road in the East End of Glasgow. As a start-up it was a great opportunity to be positioned within an already established business. This gave us the freedom to represent our brand in our own way whilst keeping costs down.

• How did you get started?

I am a kitchen installer to trade so it was a natural progression for me to then move into forming my own business within the industry. My company was incorporated in January 2014 when we joined Entrepreneurial Spark. This enabled me to access business support and office space while we established our customer base, gain funding and source retail space for our first showroom.

• What is your background?

I have always been involved in home improvements since I left school at the age of 16. Trained as a fully qualified joiner to trade, where I specialised in kitchens for around 10 years. In these years I've been involved in all aspects of the industry through design, sales and installations including being heavily involved in the installation of Scotland's largest designer kitchen and bedroom showroom six years ago.

• What is your top tip?

Plan well, never take anything for granted and put in the hours.

• Has anyone helped you get started and how?

We initially joined Entrepreneurial Spark in January 2014. We gained invaluable help and support from the program. The ideation sessions really helped me with branding and forward planning, this is where the Silver Birch Interiors brand was born. We were also awarded the most accelerated business. We have also received support from the Princes Trust, we secured maximum loan funding of £25,000 from their growth fund loan which helped us with the costs of the first showroom fit-out.

In 2016 I entered the Scottish EDGE competition and was awarded within their Young EDGE category. It was a huge achievement for me as the application process is highly competitive, and also requires you to present your company to a room full of very influential business people. I highly recommend seeking out and putting yourself forward for funding and mentoring, my business wouldn't be where it is today without the support I have received, something I am extremely grateful for.

• Useful contacts e.g. business emails, websites etc - entrepreneurial spark/Chamber of Commerce etc.

info@silverbirchinteriors.co.uk

www.silverbirchinteriors.co.uk

www.entrepreneurial-spark.com

www.scottishedge.com