Shortlist announced for Hull's £3000 enterprise den
Six local entrepreneurs have made it through to the finals of Hull’s own version of the “Dragons’ Den”, where they will pitch for a share of thousands of pounds to develop their business ideas.
Five women and one man have been shortlisted from 32 entrants to face the
Enterprise Den, which has been organised by the Hull Enterprise Partnership.
They will all be bidding for a prize fund of £3000, which has been donated by Soccer Sensations, Welwyn Consultancy, Colt Industrial, Brookes Tiling, William Jackson Food Group and ATL. Word of Mouth Design and Eon Media have both donated in-kind services as prizes.
The contest was open to any new private or social enterprises in the HU1-HU9 areas which have been in business for no more than three years. The finalists will face the Enterprise Den of three local businessmen on Friday 19 March from 9.45am at the Community Church Hull, Newland Avenue, Hull. Each will have 20 minutes to pitch to the judges and face questions before the results are announced at the end of the session, which is expected to be around 2pm.
The finalists are:
Linda Bates (44), who runs Re-style hair-dressing salon in Anlaby Road, west Hull. She will be presenting her idea for a new type of nit removal comb, for which she is asking £1,500;
Sarah Morris (34), of Park Avenue, will be pitching ideas to expand and diversify her environmental domestic cleaning social enterprise, Green Avenues, with a bid for £660 for a new bicycle & trailer and promotional materials;
Kath Hope, 48, of Holderness Road, is seeking £3,000 to develop products to expand her company, Hope2Sleep, which imports and distributes comfort accessories for Sleep Apnoea, This is a condition where sufferers need help to keep breathing whilst asleep;
Yasmin Choudhury, at 21 the youngest candidate, lives in the Avenues area of Hull and will be asking for £3,000 to develop Nikah Services (UK), her Muslim marriage match-making service;
Stephanie Riby, 47, from Suddaby Park, east Hull, has ideas for Past Times, a service to provide activities in care homes, and she is asking for £1,000;
and Del Thompson, 31, of Brazil Street, east Hull, wants £3,000 to develop his green domestic appliance firm, Go Green Environmental Ltd.
They will face a panel of three judges who are all local businessmen: Barry Cooper of Welwyn Consultancy, Geof Brooke of Brooke Ceramics, and Nicholas Oughtred of the William Jackson Food Group.
Pete McKillop of the Hull Enterprise Partnership says: “It’s going to be exciting and tense for the six as they give the best pitch of their lives. We had an excellent response and the shortlisting was very tough. The judges will be keen to offer invaluable business advice, and we’d like to thank them for giving their time and funds to make this event such a success.”
The Hull Enterprise Partnership (HEP) provides a free service and one-to-one support for anyone interested in starting their own business or becoming self-employed. The four organisations which form the Partnership are: Community Church Hull, the Goodwin Development Trust, Latitude and Probe (Hull) Ltd. HEP is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and One Hull, the local strategic partnership for the city.
http://www.enterprisinghull.org.uk/
