Mike Robertson 4QL - Member Profile

Member Spotlight

Mike Robertson

4QL, 13 Hatston Park, Kirkwall, KW15 1UB

0131 208 0015

www.4ql.co.uk

Mike Robertson was born in Edinburgh, lived in Bathgate and then moved to Orkney. Mike attended Heriot Watt University and got a degree in Electrical Engineering and then headed off to London and Ipswich for BT. He married a Shetland lass and moved to maintaining Schlumberger’s oil-well logging equipment in Shetland.

After 5 years with Schlumberger Mike was attracted to getting into business on his own. He was briefly a partner in home computer firm but soon joined up with another colleague to set up a new business concentrating on computer systems for small business. After 20 years of this, for personal reasons and so he could concentrate on software Mike span out a new company, 4QL Limited.

4QL’s niche is developing custom software for SMEs but it also has web content management product, OctEportal, to help small and micro businesses build and manage their own Internet presence with little technical knowledge. Their hardest challenge is identifying new markets for this, tailoring the product to suit this market and then selling into. 4QL would be interested in connecting with anybody who could help them with this marketing challenge.

4QL has customers in Shetland, Orkney and Glasgow at present.

Mike Robertson has been involved in Fusion since it started and has attended a number of conferences and events. He has an extensive network of contacts so for anyone planning to do business in Orkney Mike Robertson should be one person they should look up.

Member Profile - Ronnie Johnson

Member Spotlight

Ronnie Johnson

Kirkwall Town Centre Partnership

c/o WHB Sutherland Ltd, 43 Victoria St, Kirkwall, KW 15 1DN

Ronnie.johnson@ktcp.org.uk

www.orkneycommunities.gov.uk/KTCP

Ronnie Johnson is a man with a huge number of connections in Orkney built up over 32 years with the Royal Bank of Scotland which he retired from in 2000.

He then worked as the College Development Officer developing the commercial activities of the College which included helping to set up the Agronomy Institute. It was at this stage that Ronnie became involved with Fusion as he was looking to gain new contacts to benefit his college role.

In 2008 he decided to try retiring but in 2009 he became the voluntary Chairman of the Kirkwall Town Centre Partnership made up of town centre businesses, HIE, Orkney Means Business, the Community Council, Planning & Economic Development of the local council plus Councillors from the 2 Kirkwall Wards. They looked at various options for the town centre and decided to look at becoming a BID (Business Improvement District) and obtained grant funding to help them set this up. Ronnie has also attended the BID Academy to learn all about this special areas springing up throughout Scotland.