12 . Glasgow Business February 2017


MEMBER NEWS


Katrina, Laura and Nicola


O’Donnell – all sisters working as engineers for BT


Growth


New funding for online meeting business


Bill Scouller, Chairman and Ryan McCabe, Director, Odro Vision


A dynamic online meeting business based in Glasgow is set for significant expansion after securing new funding. Odro Vision, which is located


Glasgow sisters are proving that engineering isn’t just for the boys


Nicola, 22, Laura, 24, and Katrina O’Donnell, 32, have all joined BT as apprentices, with Laura the most recent to join. The sisters all work in traditionally male roles, and have responded to BT’s drive to recruit more women into Science, Technology and Engineering (STEM) roles. The most recent to join the


company, Laura, left behind life as a club rep in Ayia Napa and now works as a combustion gas


engineer for BT. She’s one of only three gas engineers who look after all of BT’s boilers across the whole of Scotland.


The eldest of the three sisters,


Katrina, joined in 2001 as an apprentice telecoms engineer within Openreach, BT’s local network business. Katrina was one of the first female engineers to join her team in Glasgow. Katrina now manages a team of 22 male engineers who install and repair


phone, broadband and TV services. Following Katrina into the


family business was Nicola, who joined BT as an apprentice in 2013 and now works as a fibre planner for Openreach, helping to plan new superfast broadband networks around the UK. BT employs more than 7000 people in Scotland and Openreach has recruited more than 220 engineers and apprentices in the last year.


Sir Tom walks the walk with fundraising pledge


Scots now have more reasons than ever before to get walking, thanks to a groundbreaking announcement from Sir Tom Hunter. The philanthropist and entrepreneur has pledged that 110 per cent of all fundraising at each of the four 2017 Royal Bank of Scotland Kiltwalk events will go to charity. Four lucky walkers will also be able to drive away in a brand new car after their walk. Last year, every penny


raised went to the walkers’ chosen charities. But this


One Kiltwalker from each of the four events will win a new car from Arnold Clark


turbocharge fundraising was further boosted by the pledge from platinum sponsors Arnold Clark that one lucky Kiltwalker from each of the four events will win a brand new car. At the 2017 launch in


year, for every £100 raised The Hunter Foundation will add £10 with no limit. The Royal Bank of


Scotland Kiltwalk will return to Glasgow on


30 April, Aberdeen on 4 June and Edinburgh on 17 September, with a new event from St Andrews to Dundee on 20 August. This initiative to


October, it was announced that Kiltwalk trustees were responding to requests to open up its four iconic walks to help even more people in Scotland, hence walkers can raise funds for any registered Scottish charity of their choice.


To register, please visit: www.thekiltwalk.co.uk


at the Templeton on the Green building in the city’s east end, has received £240,000 of Regional Selective Assistance to help it grow its staff base from 11 up to 29 over the next 18 months – a move which is expected to see the business increase its turnover from £1.2 million in 2016 to £2.1 million in 2017. Odro Vision’s directors


opted to apply for Scottish Enterprise grant assistance after seeking advice from mid-tier Scottish accountancy firm, French Duncan. Odro’s new staff will work


predominantly in sales-based roles, helping the online business to expand into new markets in Scotland, the UK and overseas. Since the business began in 2011, it has gone from strength- to-strength. Back then they were hosting around 1,500 minutes of online meetings each month and that has increased to over 65,000 minutes, with lots of new deals in the pipeline. Over the past 10 years,


French Duncan has helped businesses secure almost £100 million of awards through schemes including Regional Selective Assistance, SMART: SCOTLAND and the Food Processing Marketing Co-operation. They will continue to work with Odro to ensure its continued success over the years ahead.


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