Event to explore the benefits of Gaelic in business

Can Gaelic be a bonus in business? This will be the topic of the latest lunchtime seminar offered by the University of the Highlands and Islands.

International business expert Seonaidh MacDonald will talk about his experiences of using Gaelic in a global business context. A native of Uist, Seonaidh’s career has taken him around the word. His last venture was to build Scottish augmented reality company MLed into a leading manufacturing business which was sold to Facebook in a multimillion pound deal.

Speaking about his experiences, Seonaidh explains: “Having Gaelic as another fluent language has allowed me to see how others can sometimes find difficulty in some of the nuances of English. This can lead to a degree of an empathy with other parties in, for example, multilingual negotiations and, as a result, can help to build trust and lead to stronger overall business relationships being formed.”

Gary I Campbell, the university’s key account director, organised the event. He added: “Seonaidh’s experience shows that, where many people would assume having Gaelic as a first language might be a barrier, in fact it has been a bonus.”

The seminar, entitled ‘What’s the Gaelic for Entrepreneur?’, will be delivered in Gaelic, with English translation available. It will take place from 12.30pm to 1:30pm on Thursday 16 November at the An Lòchran building on Inverness Campus and can also be attended by video conference.

The University of the Highlands and Islands business lunch series is delivered in association with Highlands and Islands Enterprise and SSE. For more information and to book, visit Events.