Olivia Grant is 23 years old, sixth generation in the Highlands, and the driving force behind the community buyout of Foyers Stores – the only shop serving 800 people along a 35-mile stretch of Loch Ness-side road. When the store faced closure, Olivia did not wait for someone else to fix it. She submitted a £365,000 Scottish Land Fund application and got to work. On the Growth for Good podcast, she speaks with Drew Hendry about what it really takes to hold a community together when the things that keep it alive are under threat.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode
- Why Foyers Stores matters to the community it serves – and what losing it would have meant
- How Olivia led the £365,000 Scottish Land Fund application at 23 years old
- The moment she submitted the funding form from the passenger seat of a horse lorry
- What community ownership actually involves – the legal, financial and human realities
- How she thinks about grounding the project in people rather than paperwork
- The Highland planning issue that almost derailed the project before it started
- What the buyout has meant for Foyers and what comes next
About Olivia Grant
Olivia Grant grew up in the Highlands and is the community champion behind the buyout of Foyers Stores on the south shore of Loch Ness. The store is the only retail facility serving around 800 residents along a 35-mile stretch of road, with no alternative. Boleskine Community Care, the organisation supporting the buyout, submitted a £365,000 application to the Scottish Land Fund to bring the store into community ownership. Olivia is also involved in Boleskine Community Care’s wider work supporting the community of Foyers and the surrounding area.
Read the full feature article: How a Community Buyout Changed Everything for a Highland Village.
About the Growth for Good Podcast
Drew Hendry hosts the Growth for Good podcast, featuring conversations with founders, business leaders, and community builders from across the Highlands of Scotland. Each episode explores how people are growing with purpose, with community at the heart of their work. New episodes every two weeks. Subscribe to the Growth for Good podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major podcast platforms.