ENTREPRENEURIAL Spark – with partners NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and KPMG – have handed out £90,000 to some of the most promising start-ups across its UK Hatcheries, following two showcase events last night that saw firms pitching to a panel of distinguished judges.
The Entrepreneuring Awards, which are fast becoming a fixture of the UK business landscape, saw firms pick up the prizes following the six-month accelerator programmer and after pitching their business ideas.
The winning businesses included:
Hatchery #GoDo – £4,000 each
Ayrshire -White Rabbit Skincare
Birmingham-Onaris Africa and Dryout
Edinburgh – Coach Logic
Glasgow – Get Me Active
Nest #GoDo – £4,000 each
Ayrshire – Romper Royale
Edinburgh – UK Gift Box
Glasgow – Connect in
Chiclet Choice Award – £2,000 each
Ayrshire – I Do Licious
Birmingham – Songwall
Edinburgh – UK Gift Box
Glasgow – Cosneta
Acceler-8 Award – £6,000 each
Ayrshire – Bitzbags
Birmingham – ABA Tutorship and Spearhead
Edinburgh – Findra
Glasgow – Blind spot gear
Pitching Competition – £2,000 each
Scotland – Nutrifiz, Bitzbags and Fairsquared
Birmingham – Spearhead and, wildcard (£1,000), The Space
Entrepreneur of the Moment – £10,000
Bonny Vita (Scotland only)
The awards evening also featured guest speakers including Josh Littlejohn, founder of Social Bite and The Scottish Business Awards, and Gary Maitles, Entrepreneurial Spark alumni and founder of The Service Directory in Scotland.
In Birmingham for Entrepreneurial Spark’s first Hatchery south of the Border, was alumni, James Brown, of Beer 52, and Simon Topman, founder of Acme Whistles.
Gordon Merrylees, head of entrepreneurship at Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “It’s incredibly important that we support entrepreneurs, as they are the wealth creators and the lifeblood of the UK economy. The standard of today’s pitches demonstrated Scotland’s enormous entrepreneurial talent.
“The Entrepreneuring Awards are a tremendous and fitting celebration of the work of Entrepreneurial Spark, the superb collaboration across the local ecosystems and the hard-working entrepreneurs within its accelerators as they achieve their growth potential and ambitions as the programme expands across the UK.”
Gary Deans, partner, KPMG Enterprise, which also supports Entrepreneurial Spark and its Chiclets, said: “It’s essential to provide ambitious start-ups with the finance they need to grow, but also to make sure that they have a clear vision for their business and a plan in place to use those funds to grow sustainably.
“The pitching element of the Entrepreneuring Awards ensures that the winners are invariably well prepared for the challenges ahead.”
Jim Duffy, chief executive of Entrepreneurial Spark, said: “This has been a wonderful celebration of the spirit of entrepreneuring, which is a phrase we coined to denote the Go-Do attitude and desire to bring about positive change for themselves and others that characterises the brilliant businesspeople that we support.
“My congratulations to all the winners across our Hatcheries across the UK – I’m sure this will spur them on to even greater things.”
Individual images of winners and interviews available on request.
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