Social Investment Scotland (SIS) has appointed Louisa Macdonell to its board of directors.
She joins from her current role as chief executive at the Development Trusts Association Scotland (DTAS), the membership body for community-led enterprising organisations.
Macdonell is also an entrepreneur-in-residence at the University of Edinburgh’s business school and mentors a variety of small businesses, particularly those run by women.
Prior to joining DTAS, she was head of economic development at the Scotland Office, delivering Scotland’s first rural regional growth deal, and worked in energy strategy development at Scottish Enterprise.
Macdonell has more than 20 years’ experience in business development and entrepreneurship and will support SIS with the delivery of its 2030 strategy.
The social enterprise charity will work with social enterprises and community organisations from across Scotland to provide the investment and support needed to help them make a sustainable impact upon peoples’ lives.
In 2019/20, an estimated 1.4 million people benefited from SIS’s activities in the third sector, with active loans and investments totalling more than £28m across 175 social enterprises.
Macdonell said: “Scotland has developed an enviable reputation for the depth and breadth of its social enterprise sector, led by a community of social entrepreneurs and leaders focused on delivering significant impact in their communities.
“I have been mentoring small enterprises for a number of years, so I’m really looking forward to bringing this experience to bear with SIS’s growing customer portfolio at a time when their products and services have never been more needed.”
Ken Barclay, chair at SIS, added: “If the past year has taught us anything it is that it has highlighted the need for an economy that strives to address much more than GDP – it is testament to the success of SIS over the last few years that we are able to attract someone of Louisa’s calibre.”
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