Gill Baird

MBA graduate Gill Baird explains how studying at Stirling gave her the professional development skills to be a successful business owner and build her own hospital. She is the Owner and Founder of Cosmedicare and St Ellen's Hospital.

I've always wanted to help people

I've always been ambitious, I've always wanted to help people. I wanted to affect change in peoples' lives and make healthcare more accessible to a wider demographic.

We've got such a great team of people with a shared vision and a shared commitment to growth for this business and doing the right thing.

And all of that came from the University of Stirling.

The University of Stirling gave me the skill sets to be successful

When you're going in to an MBA in general, take into consideration all the different aspects and skill sets and attributes that are needed to be successful in a professional environment and Stirling certainly gave me that. They gave me more on top of it from a professional development aspect.

The structure of the course, the academic team that were involved in it, and the setting of the University all helped.

I knew what was required to run a hospital

I was approached by a private health care provider but I said no, I'm going to build my own hospital. I think the laughter still echoes in my ears to this day. But that was the next bit of "oomph" I needed to prove them wrong. I had the credibility of the MBA education so as much as I wasn't a doctor, I knew what was required to run a hospital.

A certain bank told me that I wasn't entrepreneurial enough, and then four years later came back and asked me if I wanted to be the face of entrepreneurship in Scotland. It's strange how the tables turn and sometimes you need a wee bit of time for things to play out, to see what was always meant to happen.