Josiah Lockhart will replace Karen McGregor next month

A charity which has supported social enterprises in Scotland over the past decade has named a new chief executive.

Firstport has appointed Josiah Lockhart as its new boss, replacing the outgoing Karen McGregor.

The experienced social entrepreneur was most recently chief executive of Edinburgh’s Gorgie City Farm, where he led a successful crowdfunding campaign which raised over £100,000 in less than six weeks. The campaign saved the much-loved social enterprise from closure and put it into its strongest financial position in its 40-year history.

Lockhart also managed the start-up phase of the Grassmarket Community Project and helped launch Slow Food Scotland as an independent charity. He is a committee member of the Scottish Land Fund, which supports communities to acquire and manage land and land assets, and an SCVO Digital Pioneer.

The new chief exec will start next month and replaces McGregor, who is moving on to become business development director at David MacBrayne Ltd.

He said: “My motivation comes from finding ways to use business to do good, and to develop more sustainable and resilient methods for achieving those results.

“I am really looking forward to building on the successes Karen and her team at Firstport have achieved over the last 10 years. It is an exciting time to join the organisation and I look forward to meeting many of the social entrepreneurs Firstport supports.”

Peter Shakeshaft, chair of the Firstport board, added: “We are delighted to welcome Josiah to the team. He brings a wealth of experience in the sector as well as business, third sector, and cooperative governance experience to the role.”