A Peebles company has changed the narrative in many secondary schools and proven that staying in the Borders can open doors to global careers.
Evolution Bottling and Packing Solutions, based in Cavalry Park, won the Chamber’s DYW Champion Business for 2024 in the Excellence Awards
Director Colin Clelland said “We were delighted to win that award as developing the young workforce is really key to our future. It’s really important to us.
Building a Young Workforce with Global Reach
“We’re seeing real success in the team that we have developed and what they’re doing for us now, because we’ve been able to develop them to exactly what we want and need for our customers. And we get a big kick out of it.”
”"...The reach we have as a business goes right across the UK and Ireland, to Europe and the US as well"
Mark BlaikBusiness Development Manager, Evolution Bottling and Packing Solutions
Developing an International Young Workforce
Rachel Finney, Business Development Manager, explains in the latest ‘Spotlight’ video how and why she has been supported to grow and learn.
She said: “I have been here for six years and have really enjoyed every minute of working here. The benefit for me is that I live locally – I went to school here – and I also feel that I have a really good career, that maybe a lot of people feel they need to go into the city for, but being based in the Scottish Borders and living here allows me to still have that with Evolution.”
Mark Blaik, the company’s other Business Development Manager, feels similarly as he deals with suppliers and orders from across the world.
“When I was at school here there was a bit of a stigma if you didn’t leave school and go to university, because everyone felt that you had to,” he said.
“I’d say that’s slightly different now. Covid and remote working has changed it, but I think companies like Evolution have changed that too.”
“The reach we have as a business goes right across the UK and Ireland, to Europe and the US as well, so now I would have a different opinion about being based locally but being able to have an international career.”
Watch the video for the full interviews on Evolution’s approach to developing an international young workforce.
