Why I love running my business in the Highlands and Islands: Rhoda Meek

Founder and Director of Isle Develop

When the COVID-19 pandemic brought an immediate halt to tourism on the islands, Rhoda Meek knew she would have to pivot to online sales for her Tiree Tea brand. A late night tweet offering to feature other small island businesses on her website quickly grew into isle20.com, a directory and e-commerce shopping site offering island based businesses a vital new route to market.

With a mission to help the islands thrive and build strong economies which depend less on tourism, Rhoda and her team added island takeaway and delivery service isleEats.com during the pandemic, before forming Isle Develop CIC to oversee these and future projects. As a Community Interest Company (CIC), Isle Develop now reinvests profits into local communities.

WHY IS ISLE DEVELOP BASED IN TIREE?

Because I am! Our goal is to be a remote company distributed across all of the islands. Currently we have two members of our team in Tiree, one in Harris, and we’ve recently recruited another in Unst thanks to support from HIE.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS IN TIREE?

Being based here means I can continue to live in my family home and work on our family croft, in addition to running Isle Develop, doing my full-time day job, and running Tiree Tea. I really do enjoy the variety of being able to do different things! I love being able to get outdoors too, and savouring the feeling of space and freedom.

WHAT CHALLENGES DOES YOUR LOCATION PRESENT, AND HOW HAVE YOU OVERCOME THEM?

Our location doesn’t really pose any challenges to be honest – our island locations are the reason Isle Develop exists! I think it’s actually hugely beneficial to be island based. We’re a part of these communities, so we understand the needs here and know what makes our islands tick.

We work together remotely, which I’m well used to: even prepandemic I had done that for over a decade, with teammates based in Latvia and the United States.

HOW HAS HIE SUPPORTED YOUR BUSINESS TO THRIVE IN TIREE?

We’ve recently been awarded a capacity building grant from HIE, which allowed us to hire our first employee. This has been a huge step up for Isle Develop, because we were operationally ready to scale but we didn’t have the financial resources to do so without the grant. We really needed to bring someone on board to help us with the day to day running of things as isle20. com and isleEats.com expand, and the extra hands means we have time to keep looking at other new projects and working on how best to reinvest our profits as a CIC. We also got an innovation grant to help us upgrade the isle20.com website. I did a DIY job on the site at first to get us up and running, but as we grew, we needed a professional to come in and impose some order behind the scenes! Ultimately, a better and more user-friendly site will help our island businesses make more sales.

’B e an galar sgaoilte an adhbhar iomlan airson Isle Develop a thighinn gu bith. Chuir Rhoda Meek isle20.com air bhog mar àite margaidh airson luchd-malairt nan eilean a chuideachadh gus am bathar a thoirt a-mach gu margaidh nuair a nach robh an àireamh turasach a bha iad an urrachd ri, ann tuilleadh. Cha robh tairgse e-malairt aig mòran ghnìomhachasan agus mar sin, às aonais, luchd-turais a’ tighinn dha na h-eileanan bha iad air an gearradh dheth gu tur.

HOW HAS COVID-19 AFFECTED YOUR BUSINESS?

The pandemic was the whole reason for Isle Develop coming into being. I launched isle20.com as a marketplace to help island traders get their products out to market when the tourist footfall that they relied on suddenly was no longer there. Many businesses lacked an e-commerce offering, so with no tourists coming to the islands they were totally cut off. Isle Develop was formed as a CIC to take forward this and other projects such as isleEats.com. The hope is that Isle Develop will help get other projects off the ground to help our island economies develop with less reliance on tourism.

TALK US THROUGH YOUR IDEAL WORK DAY…

On an ideal day I’d have a long lie and wake up to a nice pot of coffee, spend a few hours working on emails and thinking about my business, walk the dog and check on the sheep. In reality, I clatter between my computer and various different tasks, frequently involving tracking down escaped sheep and running to the post with packages of Tiree Tea. Island life is fantastic, but it’s not quite the rural idyll some people imagine!

CAN YOU TELL US IN THREE WORDS WHY YOU LOVE RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS IN THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS?

It’s my home!