They must put something in the water in Tiree. Skerryvore – winners last night (18th November) of the Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust’s (PSYBT) award of Young Entrepreneurs of the Year and the second band for the island to be recognised for their business savvy.

Back in 2003 it was Skipinnish whose entrepreneurship received national attention.

But the island has done it again. At a stellar awards ceremony in Glasgow last night, Skerryvore were, in FI Grand Prix Champion for 2009 Jenson Button’s recent joyful description of himself – ‘it’.

They were presented with the award by Sir Tom Hunter – a man who knows a thing or two about entrepreneurship.

The band, made up of the brothers Martin and Daniel Gillespie with Alec Dalglish and Fraser West won £2,000 in cash as well as the award, They had  seen off stiff competition from hundreds of PSYBT-backed businesses from all over Scotland.

Their music, blending instruments from the bagpipes, accordions and fiddle and with kicking rhythms of guitar, bass and drums, has seen Skerryvore perform at international festivals in Scotland and abroad – like Celtic Connections, Hebridean Celtic Festival and Argyll’s MOK Festival; and at the MagiaCeltica festival in Italy and the Celtica Festivals in the Netherlands.

Their tagging as the ‘boy band of traditional Scottish music’ may come partly from what is obvious in the photograph above, where they are see with Sir Tom Hunter last night. It may also have been accentuated – aggravated even – by the title of their debut album, West Coast Life.

This was awarded album of the month on BBC Radio Scotland’s Celtic Connections programme.  Their 2nd album, On the Road, was released in July 2007 and went to re-press within a week of its release.  With album sales now approaching 10,000, Skerryvore’s music is becoming increasing popular with fans of all ages both at home and abroad.

Since getting their performance business on the road, Skerryvore has appeared with the Peatbog Fairies, the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Lingalad, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band and with Donnie Munro, formally of Runrig.

Skerryvore had a pretty high profile performance debut in the USA in 2008. They accompanyied Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, to performances at the Ryder Cup in Louisville, Kentucky before blasting their sound to crowds in Chicago.

They were recently signed by record label REL which is expected to raise their profile significantly and develop their music business.

Last night’s awards ceremony, now 14 years old, was held in the Glasgow City Chambers and was attended by over 300 guests.  TV personality, Viv Lumsden, who is a longstanding ambassador of PSYBT, chaired the awards’ ceremony, and entrepreneur and director of PSYBT, Sir Tom Hunter, addressed the 350 strong audience.

As he presented Skerryvore with their award,he said, ‘Entrepreneurship is above all a state of mind. Maintaining self belief, thinking positive and seizing opportunities is what creates success. Tonight’s winners are tremendous examples of this mindset and these talented young entrepreneurs will be instrumental in leading the way to a healthier economic future for Scotland’.

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