The Skills and Development team is directed by key Business Managers:
Murdo Beaton, Director International Business
Murdo manages the Global Trading team. He is renowned in his field and has a lifetime expertise in the area of International Trade development. Recently he has worked on various large scale projects.
The International Trade Mentoring programme was designed and implemented by Murdo and is now a national product rolled out across the Scottish Enterprise Network. He also designed a European Funded project - Online Skills Enhancement - Programme for International Trade Practitioners. The output from this project is modules covering International Trade equating to 180 hours of online learning content. He has also developed for a private sector sponsor an Origin Management System.
Email Murdo or call 01506 497202.
Roger Horam - Partnerships and Projects
Roger heads up the business and learning team within Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce that provide in-company training, a calendar of open courses, specialised training (such as promoting diversity) and government funded projects to meet the training and development needs of Chamber Members and Edinburgh businesses and individuals. In addition he project manages and administers Scotland-wide European-funded e-business projects for Scottish Enterprise and the 12 Local Enterprise Companies. Over the past 3 years these projects have been in the region of £7M.
After a 20-year career in the hospitality and tourism industry, Roger joined Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce as an IT trainer in 1999, before moving on to manage the e-business team and now the training division. He has an MSC (with distinction) in Hospitality (Information Technology) Management and is currently working towards a part-time PhD looking at establishing a correlation between e-learning and business performance.
Roger has an extensive network in and around the Europe - both public and private sectors, local and international - specifically in the business development and employability areas. He is a director of Edinburgh Lifelong Learning Partnership and sits on the steering group of Edinburgh's Joined Up 4 Jobs partnership.
Email Roger or call 0131 221 3189.
Alasdair Kerr - Director Business Development & Enterprise
Alasdair manages the Business Development and Communities Project teams. He is responsible for the successful delivery of the Business Gateway Contract for Edinburgh. As part of this contract the team assists over 1500 people to develop their business idea with over 600 starting up in business each year.
The team also works with over 300 existing businesses to grow and develop, these growth businesses contribute over £180 m annually to the Edinburgh and Scottish economy and employ over 2,200 people. He is also responsible for manage and overseeing the very successful Craigmillar Business Incubator and North Edinburgh Business Incubator projects who provide specialist business advice and support in these exciting regeneration areas as part of our Social Inclusion support.
Email Alasdair or call 0131 661 8888.
