Ideas For Growth - Bringing Businesses Together in Thurso

22nd May 2009

On 3rd June, from 4pm at Caithness Horizons, Thurso, GlobalScot Bob Creighton who lives and works in Connecticut USA, will address a small group of ambitious business people, brought together by Fusion. There is still time to book a place on this event if you wish to attend.

Bob is joint founder, President & CEO of MentorShop, a US and European co-located
international development company. A graduate in economics and economic history from the University of Strathclyde, he has lived and worked in the US since 1985. Prior to this he was Head of Market Research & Corporate Planning with one of Europe's largest engineering companies - the Weir Group - and Head of International Research with SCDI. Before establishing MentorShop, Bob worked in the inward investment arena in the US at senior levels with the UK's Northern Development Company and Scottish Enterprise. He has a wealth of experience to share with local businesses in Caithness.

Fusion is the body which links rural entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses, and is currently running a series of local conferences across the Highlands and Islands. Events already held in Skye and Orkney have been very well attended and voted a huge success by local entrepreneurs who have taken part.

"Entrepreneurs are faster and stronger together" says David Fraser, a Globalscot and champion of Fusion, "these local conferences, are attracting a wide range of entrepreneurial talent from each area where they take place, and are creating the atmosphere we hoped for, where these businesses are beginning to help each other by exchanging ideas and experiences." Each event has attracted a major entrepreneur as keynote speaker and all are "Globalscots".

The GlobalScot network brings together a wealth of Scottish talent from around the world to help Scottish businesses. These highly experienced business people give back their time free to help grow the Scottish economy.

Bruce Morrison, chief executive of Fusion hopes these localised conferences held across the region will lead to longer term support for rural entrepreneurs. "We hope the conferences will be a springboard to launch "Fusion Community Entrepreneur Groups" across the Highlands and Islands which will continue to meet up 2 - 3 times a year with a facilitator, to form a support structure for each other," he says.

Attendance costs £25 including VAT and to get further details/book a place, go to
www.fusionlinking.co.uk/EventsBook.html

About Bob Creighton
Bob is joint founder, President & CEO of MentorShop, a US and European co-located international development company.

A graduate in economics and economic history from the University of Strathclyde, he has lived and worked in the US since 1985. Prior to this he was Head of Market Research & Corporate Planning with one of Europe's largest engineering company - the Weir Group - and Head of International Research with SCDI. Before establishing MentorShop, Bob worked in the inward investment arena in the US at senior levels with the UK's Northern Development Company and Scottish Enterprise.

MentorShop (www.mentorshop.com) is a full service international development and marketing support company. The business - with offices in the US and UK - numbers in its project partner list North America's leading corporations and institutions (e.g. Oracle, AT&T, Genzyme, Acambis, Apple, Nitromed, E-bay, Solectron, Liberty Mutual, Inter-American Development Bank, Xerox, the Cities of Boston, Chicago, New York and Pittsburgh, and numerous US states, federal agencies and academic institutions). In other geographic markets, MentorShop works with many of the world's leading development agencies and with businesses in virtually every industry sector.

Bob has dedicated much of the past two years to leading the development of IBTIX. It is the product of discussions with many of the world's leading enterprise agencies, businesses, academic commentators and technology advisers. The IBTIX portal is a unique response to today's economic challenges and has been custom designed to offer governments and their agencies a means of supporting business - to help them Trade Out of Recession - and to track and measure the impact of public development spend. IBTIX has been created to help businesses grow and allow governments to use today's technology to plan, deliver and evaluate informed programmes of business growth.

In recent years Bob has been honoured by appointments to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, is Honorary Commercial Consul for New Hampshire to Scotland, and is actively engaged in a number of international trade organizations.

A member of various European-American international advisory committees, Bob speaks regularly at American universities - e.g. Notre Dame & Emory Business School - and many other forums on international trade, investment, and cultural issues. He is an occasional adviser to the Scottish Government on international policy and programs, including their Fresh Talent initiative. He is featured in the book Global Scots - Voices from Afar, which profiles influential Scots in the international arena. He is a founding member of the GlobalScot network and a member of Friends of Scotland.

In the voluntary field, Bob's main focus is in promoting enterprise development in high schools and he works closely with a number in the US and Europe. Recent school projects have included the widely publicized programme Be All You Can Be. He is married and lives in Redding, Connecticut.

FUSION LOCAL CONFERENCES series: IDEAS FOR GROWTH -
Wednesday 29 April, Columba 1400, Staffin, Isle of Skye - keynote speaker David Fraser a Fusion Highland Champion and Global Scot.
Thursday 14 May, St Magnus Centre, Kirkwall, Orkney - keynote speaker Maeve Gillies a US based Global Scot
Wednesday 3 June, Caithness Horizons, Thurso, Caithness - Keynote speaker Bob Creighton a US based Global Scot
Wednesday 10 June, The Ice Factor, Kinlochleven, Lochaber - Keynote speaker Ian Ritchie
Wednesday 17 June, Equateq, Callanish, Isle of Lewis - keynote speaker David Farquhar a Global Scot

Photo - David Fraser At Skye