Local distillers open for business after detailed planning and preparation.

The FIDC Development Team are delighted to see the official launch of Richard McKee’s Falkland Distillers enterprise – and their Darwin’s Botanicals Gin brand available to connoisseurs.

Richard McKee made the decision to turn an interest into a business about six years ago. Since then, he has been studying for a postgraduate Diploma in brewing and distilling with Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, now almost completed. This technical grounding gives him a super advantage in the competitive – and ‘on trend’ boutique gin trade.

The FIDC team has supported Richard over the last three years - for start-up business advice including assistance with the legal aspects of trademarks, and finding a base for the distilling and retailing. His attractively refurbished showroom – the old Philomel Store next to the jetty – now gleams with burnished copper stills, and displays of the beautifully bottled gins. This eye-catching waterfront property should be the ideal location to attract customers from the cruise ships next season. 

Louise Ellis, FIDC Business Development Officer and self-described “gin connoisseur”, commends Richard – and his gins: “The botanicals are well balanced, making a smooth, light and interesting gin. The taste is not heavy on juniper, with floral tones and a pleasant aroma, making this a very easy drinking gin, too easy in fact!  I paired it with a Lamb and Watt’s tonic water and garnished with strawberries and cucumber, as they are both very mellow flavours that would complement the delicate botanicals rather than overpower it”.

The Corporation wishes the business great success and looks forward to the product finding overseas buyers too, while the gin market goes in search of excellent and different offerings.

Following Rural Energy Advisor Andrew Crighton's vist to the Islands back in February we are publicizing his final report which can be seen below.

pdf Final Report (36.19 MB)

Good to see interest in FIG’s Shaping Communications for the Future Communications Week events – and thanks for keen attendance at the FIDC-supported workshop sessions.

We hope that the discussions carried out over the week by the Regulator and Sure gave them usable insight on what the community needs here. Certainly, FIDC took interest in parts of the programme showing what can be done in ‘connected’ territories; demand ought to lead to change and improvements - helping us to compete in a digital economy.

We hope FIDC demonstrated support for the business community in digital awareness.

At the event, Louise Ellis showed the importance of Managing Your Social Media Presence. Her workshop explained how to create and curate a strong personal brand using social media and the benefits of doing so using the most appropriate social media platforms to reach a target audience. Terms such as ‘mindshare’ were explained and we saw how to protect social and intellectual capital, and how to keep your message/brand consistent.  Given the extensive use of Facebook here, I think we call saw the need to professionalise social media usage.

In the second workshop - The Worldwide Digital Market – Gordon Ackroyd looked at how digital communication empowers the consumer, the buyer, in a really new way – and it is this we need to consider in development and communication  of our brands, products, and services.

Now, brands are stories, and people ‘out there’ i.e. beyond your business and the efforts of its promotional agencies, are the storytellers.

You, and your brand, can and must engage in the 5 communications channels  (the five grey wedge shaped segments shown in PowerPoint slide ( document Communications Week GFA Digital intro presentation 13 03 2019 (1.93 MB) ). The risk, if we see it that way, is that your brand is more malleable, in the hands of others; the mitigation? that we construct our digital marketing communications such that our message is going to engage the customer, that they ‘socialise’ that message, and that the brand conversation is reflected back to us – to measure and work upon.

We were also grateful to RFIP for sending their presentation on Internet Safety. As Louise in fake-police guise explained, the more we use the digital channels, the more mindful we need to be of risks in sharing, and there were useful lessons for the good of our families, as well as our businesses.

We promoted FIDC’s upcoming season of training events which will include digital basics and more on social media – dates to follow, so watch this news section.

The slides linked here:

document Managing your Social Media Presence (1.20 MB)

document Communications Week GFA Digital intro presentation 13 03 2019 (1.93 MB)

And to reiterate that FIDC is keen to help any FI enterprise with their digital engagement; either working one-to-one or via training events.

See you at our next training event

Gordon Ackroyd

Strategic Projects Manager

New Business Development Officers – strengthening the team.

John Hellowell is the new arrival on FIDC’s Development team, alongside Sian Davies and Louise Ellis. But he is no stranger to our shores - having visited with his family many times over the last sixteen years.

He’s a true entrepreneur. Having spent his working life starting and building businesses from scratch into successful and substantial enterprises - he now offers a wealth of knowledge to FIDC’s clients.

His family home for the last thirty years was the Isle of Man where he also assisted their government with their Small Business Start-Up Scheme. John is now tasked with helping our rural community to develop their ideas into viable, sustainable enterprises.

Says John:

 “I am indeed looking forward to being able to contribute towards the Falklands enterprise economy and playing my part in life here. There is no doubt the Islanders’ daily face challenges not found elsewhere in the world. The more I understand what makes the people of the Falklands thrive, the better I can do my job.”

Those unique challenges are a very real part of what attracted John to take up the post of Business Development Officer at FIDC. As Gordon Ackroyd, FIDC Strategic Projects Manager comments;

“John has a very straight forward and “can do” approach, which will work well here, plus terrific knowledge of the Islands, and local friendships and contacts built up over years. We are delighted to have him with us.”

New Business Development Officer Joins FIDC

FIDC is pleased to welcome Sian Davies to the Business Development Team.  Sian joined us on 01 March and brings with her a strong background in Falklands heritage, tourism and retail. 

She has enjoyed a varied career in the private and public sectors and believes that this, along with sound local knowledge puts her in good stead to support the needs of our ever growing community.  Working within the Falkland Islands Government allowed her the opportunity to develop a firm understanding of the key national strategic documents and the crucial role FIDC has in delivering these.  That, along with a diverse workload attracted her to the role and she is looking forward to supporting and enabling economic growth

Business Expansion at Wayne Clement Electrical.

When an established and successful business plans for growth, the Development Corporation is on hand to assist.

Wayne Clement Electrical has been trading and growing steadily since 2011, offering a comprehensive electrics contracting service. Now, Mr Clement is making the move to retail, setting up shop on Hebe Street. With space for more stock and spares, this gives all customers a bigger choice of parts, better prices on components plus higher quality and availability of service; that’s good for private customers, and other electrical contractors, as well as giving a further boost to his existing contract business.

Mr Clement has a significant order of component on the way to Stanley now, with backing from FIDC. The Corporation’s Louise Ellis points to the delicate balance of investing in stock in a ‘big’ order, but not tying up too much critical capital. Wayne agrees; “this is the right time and scale for expansion, with lots of development on the horizon”.