About The Ogilvie Business School
Built on Experience. Designed for the Real World.
About the Business School
The Ogilvie Business School is an independent business school based in Dundee, Scotland, founded on a simple belief:
The best business education comes from people who have built businesses, led organisations and made real commercial decisions.
We believe education should prepare people for what actually happens in business, not simply what appears in a textbook.
Our programmes combine practical teaching with decades of executive, entrepreneurial and leadership experience, helping participants develop the commercial judgement, confidence and capability needed to succeed in today's business environment.
Whether you're joining an Executive Education programme, completing a Professional Qualification or preparing to launch your own business, every programme is designed around one goal:
To help you apply what you learn immediately in the real world.
What Makes Us Different?
Business is a fast-moving environment where people, markets, customers, technology and organisations are constantly changing. Leaders make decisions with incomplete information, solve problems they've never seen before and adapt to challenges that rarely appear in textbooks.
Many of the skills that define successful business leaders are developed only through experience. Understanding how people behave under pressure. Recognising the early signs of commercial problems. Leading change. Building trust. Influencing decisions. Knowing when to act and when to wait. These are lessons that are difficult to teach through theory alone.
The Ogilvie Business School has been created to bring those lessons into the classroom.
Our programmes draw directly on decades of real executive experience; building businesses, leading international organisations, managing growth, navigating downturns, restructuring companies, launching new ventures and solving complex commercial challenges.
Rather than waiting years to acquire that experience through trial and error, our participants learn from people who have already lived it.
Our goal is to help you build the judgement, confidence and practical capability that normally takes many years to develop, enabling you to build a business or fast-track your career.
Our Approach to Learning
Every programme at Ogilvie Business School is designed to develop more than technical knowledge.
We help participants build:
Commercial understanding
Practical decision-making skills
Leadership confidence
Financial awareness
Strategic thinking
Communication and influence
The confidence to take action
Learning is designed to be immediately applicable, whether you're returning to work the next morning, developing your own business or preparing for the next stage of your career.
Education with Purpose
Our programmes are designed around outcomes, not attendance.
Our goal is simple:
To help you build a business or fast-track your career.
Whether that means launching a successful creative business, transitioning from practice into industry, developing leadership capability or preparing for future opportunities, every programme is designed to create meaningful progress.
Delivered by Business People
Every programme is delivered by experienced practitioners who have applied what they teach in the real world.
Our faculty consists of experienced entrepreneurs, executives and industry specialists who bring practical insight alongside structured learning.
Participants learn not only what works, but why it works and how to apply it within their own organisations or businesses.
Based in Dundee, Scotland
The Ogilvie Business School is proudly based in Dundee, Scotland.
Teaching takes place at carefully selected venues across Dundee city centre, providing an accessible and professional learning environment close to transport links, accommodation and local amenities.
About the Founder
Heather Ogilvie is the Founder and CEO of The Ogilvie Business School, a strategic advisor, executive mentor, entrepreneur and former Group Strategist and Chief Financial Officer with more than 30 years' experience building, growing and transforming organisations.
The Business School has been founded on a simple belief: the people best placed to teach business are those who have built businesses, led organisations and solved real commercial challenges. Heather's vision is to create one of Scotland's leading centres for practical business education, where students graduate with capability, confidence and real-world experience rather than theory alone.
Originally trained as a Chartered Accountant in professional practice, Heather spent more than 13 years within a Scottish manufacturing group, progressing from junior accountant to Group Board Director and Chief Financial Officer by the age of forty. During that time, she played a central role in transforming a UK manufacturing business into a substantial international organisation through strategic growth, acquisitions and operational expansion.
Her experience spans manufacturing, strategic planning, acquisitions, restructuring, organisational transformation, leadership development and international business, working across complex commercial environments where performance, people and long-term strategy must come together.
Heather later became the first external non-family Board appointment and first female executive at one of Scotland's largest privately owned businesses, where she led a significant international restructuring programme that simplified operations, strengthened commercial performance and delivered substantial cost savings.
Following her corporate career, Heather founded Ogilvie Advisory, supporting organisations through periods of growth, turnaround and transformation. Her assignments have included businesses across manufacturing, fashion, energy, building services, media and the blue economy, helping founders, boards and leadership teams solve complex commercial challenges with clarity and confidence.
Alongside her advisory work, Heather has built her own businesses across education, retail, publishing, and the creative industries, giving her first-hand experience in entrepreneurship and executive leadership. She believes that understanding business comes not simply from studying it but from building it and experiencing its highs, lows, pitfalls, and successes.
That philosophy sits at the heart of The Ogilvie Business School.
The School aims to bring together experienced entrepreneurs, executives and industry specialists to deliver education grounded in practical experience. Whether students are completing a professional qualification, attending executive education or joining the future undergraduate entrepreneur programme, they will learn from people who have actually done the work.
Heather's long-term vision extends beyond education. She is passionate about advancing research into leadership, workplace wellness, organisational behaviour, commercial performance, and the role that confidence, self-value, and human potential play in creating exceptional organisations.
Away from business, Heather is also an accomplished artist, author and mentor whose work explores creativity, communication and lifelong learning.
Join the Teaching Faculty
Help shape the next generation of business leaders.
The Ogilvie Business School is seeking experienced business leaders, entrepreneurs, and industry professionals to join our mission to provide real-world business education.
If you are passionate about sharing your knowledge and helping others succeed, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you're a retired professional, a seasoned executive, a business owner, an entrepreneur, or a niche specialist, please get in touch.
Opportunities will include:
Designing and delivering 2-day executive education programmes.
Teaching professional qualifications
Leading specialist workshops
Mentoring students
Guest speaking
Supporting curriculum development
Helping shape the future of the Business School
If you've built businesses, led organisations or developed sector-specific expertise during your career, we'd love to start a conversation.