Conservative Candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross

20th March 2016

STRUAN MACKIE, a business consultant from Caithness has been selected to contest the Caithness, Sutherland and Ross constituency in the forthcoming Holyrood elections.

Raised in Thurso, Struan attended the town's high school before earning an honours degree in Finance and Enterprise from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland's premier business school and among the top 1% globally.

As a serial and decorated entrepreneur, Struan has founded two successful enterprises from start-up. Founding his first at the age of fourteen. He built up a home-based online business into an industry leader selling sporting goods across Europe, North America, Oceania and the Far East, exiting after taking up his place at University. More recently he’s has been a co-founder of an innovative Scotch whisky business based in Glasgow. Having been selected as one of Scotland’s high potential start-up companies, it was housed within Entrepreneurial-Sparks incubator programme, receiving world leading business support and mentoring. Gaining significant traction and operating across the UK, today the company continues to invest heavily within the whisky industry and holds an interest in several distilleries across Scotland and Ireland.

Leaving entrepreneurship earlier this year, Struan has recently transitioned into a business consultant for the global professional services firm PwC. Working on a nationwide basis with some of the UKs leading SMEs to help them achieve growth, value creation and expansion ambitions.

Throughout his business career Struan has acted as a media contributor for a range of outlets including the BBC, Bauer Media and the Scottish Provincial Press. Expressing his views on a range of political, economic and business subjects. With numerous appearances across BBC output in the run up to 2015 General Election, he has been a heavily featured contributor on the BBC News, World Service and Good Morning Scotland.

Speaking at a recent event Struan said; "It is an honour to represent the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party in what is the home constituency... I couldn’t be more proud of where I come from and this is an opportunity that I will grab with both hands.

The constituency is at a very real crossroads... there is great potential within Caithness, Sutherland and Ross but we must also look to address the very real and increasing pressing issues. With a changing economy, uncertainty over long-term future of some of our industries and a changing demographic we have some serious challenges ahead.

We need to create a sustainable and prosperous future for everybody connected to this diverse and vast constituency. We need to ensure those same opportunities that I, my parents and my grandparents enjoyed are available to the next generation."

See his web site at www.struanmackie.com

See his Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/struan.mackie

Conservative Candidates for Highland on the list are -
Douglas Ross
Edward Mountain
Donald Cameron
Jamie Halcro-Johnston
Malcolm Mackay
Struan Mackie
Cameron Smith