A “serial business creator” and owner of a fish smokery on Colonsay, population 125, says he’s willing to give away his business, free.
If you are the right candidate, Richard Irvine will give you his business and train you to run it. He will hand over his keys, customers and secrets to smoking fish — all free.
The catch: You have to commit to living on a remote Scottish island called Colonsay. Population 125.
There is already global competition for the position.
Mr. Irvine, 65, established the Colonsay Smokery in 2022 and has been building the business with the intention of giving it away, he said in a phone interview on Tuesday. Interest in the giveaway has been high, he said, and he has more candidates than he expected. He hopes to choose a recipient by midsummer.
“I’m getting loads and loads of inquiries from people I’d call dreamers and schemers,” Mr. Irvine said. “One just came from St. Lucia now, while we’re talking,” he added about a candidate from the Caribbean island nation.
Mr. Irvine has also received dozens of inquiries from candidates and news media requests from Italy, Spain and the United States, among other places, since the BBC in Scotland wrote about the offer on Monday. “How I’ll filter these out, I have no idea,” he said.
In a world torn by wars and economic struggles, the idea of life on a remote Scottish island may hold allure for a lot of people — even if it involves smoking fish for a living. Colonsay, Mr. Irvine said, is a great place to escape the hustle and bustle of big-city existence.
