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Deeside man in line for top award
A Deeside graduate is into the final two of a national young entrepreneur of the year competition.
Former Banchory Academy pupil Eddie Robb runs two businesses which are less than a year old.
Make It Social, a new booking app, is scheduled to be trialed on Barrhead Travel’s website this month and has had interest from a number of companies. The app allows large groups of friends to pay off their holiday individually.
Eddie first came up with the idea after experiencing problems himself.
He said: “When I was at university my friends and I would often have the same problem if we were paying for something as a group, whether it be for a pizza or a trip to the cinema.
“It is particularly tricky when paying off a holiday as a large group and when I did some research there didn’t seem to be anything out there. The programme is set to go live with Barrhead and I’ve also just been at a travel conference where a number of big companies have shown interest.”
Eddie’s second business, As You Like It Events, has taken on a gap in the market, providing package holidays for groups of friends that don’t like package holidays.
Holidays on the site include European festivals such as Tomorrowland and Hideout Festival, diving with sharks in Cape Town and skiing in the Himalayas.
Eddie said: “It can be a massive headache trying to organise a holiday which will satisfy everyone, especially in a large group of friends. I think this provides something different.”
The 24-year-old grew up in Kincardine O’Neil before studying economics and moving to Edinburgh.
“I initially moved down to work in a bar,” he said. “Then I moved on to a small management company but after about nine months I knew that it wasn’t for me.”
Last year, Eddie started working full-time on his projects and in twelve months he has become the youngest nominee for WeDo Scotland’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Eddie is up against Gavin Oattes, owner of Tree of Knowledge, and the winner will be announced on November 23.
Eddie said: “It would be a big reward for the year’s hard work if I was to win. Just to be the youngest entrant is pretty exciting.”
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Weather for Banchory
Friday 24 May 2013
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 1 C to 13 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Temperature: 3 C to 17 C
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