We are excited to be members of the Hub and grateful for such a diverse community of business owners and leaders.
We are excited about connecting with business owners who want to grow their business.
As business growth mentors we work with sole traders and small business owners to identify and win the right opportunities for them and their business. Our experience of working with small business owners and charities has given us the skills and understanding of the system, which we share with business owners as we work with them to grow their business.
We meet business owners who have never considered selling to the public sector or have ruled it out because they think they are too small a business, they think the public sector won’t buy what they sell or its too complicated a process.
We work with them to develop and implement both a business growth strategy and the necessary process which ensures they identify and win the right opportunities for them and their business.
BDS was founded by Shiona Campbell in 2017. Shiona is passionate that publicly funded organisations should buy high quality goods and services.
She identified that many business owners don’t consider selling to publicly funded organisations. This could be because they don’t know how to go about it, don’t think they will buy from them or think the process is too complicated.
The services BDS offer have been designed around addressing these concerns.
BDS is ideally located on the outskirts of Glasgow. We work with business owners throughout the UK both in person and using virtual means.
Shiona’s next role saw her managing a team of investigators focusing on cross-border consumer crimes. She was responsible for the submission of prosecutions and making sure that civil proceedings were instigated where appropriate.
Her work took her across Scotland and was funded by central government. She worked to develop and maintain partnerships with all 32 Scottish authorities, other national trading standards enforcement teams and law enforcement partners.
During this time, Shiona was responsible for the submission of successful applications for grant funding to ensure various projects could continue and expand.
In 2014, Shiona took the opportunity to expand her career horizons and moved to a position with the third (charity) sector, specialising in business development in the health and social care sector.
This work involved both the development of new services and ensuring the retention and growth of existing services.
Shiona successfully project managed both grant and tender applications and was responsible for the writing of the bids.
In 2017, Shiona founded BDS – Business Development and Support Ltd to allow her to provide tailor-made support to solo, small and medium-sized businesses.