Start-ups get £30,000 awards
ENTREPRENEURIAL Spark awarded £30,000 to start-ups at its Manchester business accelerator ‘Hatchery’ at the prestigious Entrepreneuring Awards yesterday (Wednesday July 20).
Entrepreneurial Spark is the world’s largest free business accelerator for early stage and growing ventures, run in partnership with NatWest, KPMG and EMC.
The Entrepreneuring Awards offered ‘Chiclets’ (entrepreneurs) in Manchester the chance to win between £1,000 and £10,000 to propel their business growth. Previous winners have gone on to increase turnover by up to 60%, create additional jobs to grow their team and expand across the country.
Taking place in eight locations across the UK, with Chiclets in Glasgow and Ayrshire coming together for the night, £255,000 was awarded to entrepreneurs across the country.
The awards recognised and celebrated the hard work and determination of startups in Manchester with the following prizes:
The main award of the evening, Entrepreneur of the Moment, went to Carrie Morgan, founder of The Sales Way, alongside a cash prize of £10,000 to help take her business, creating dynamic sales training content and training enablement solutions, to the next level. Having shown sheer determination, dedication and a flair for disrupting the market and spotting little opportunities that can result in big value, Entrepreneurial Spark believes Carrie has what it takes to create a truly outstanding business.
After making real progress in the last six months and nailing every opportunity, Brainfeed, a start-up which aims to be Europe’s market leader in the sale of nutraceutical products for brain functioning, walked away with the Acceler-8 award and £7,000.
Awarded to the entrepreneurs who take action, seek challenges and deliver impressive results with a great #GoDo mindset Nick White, founder of I Want A Standing Desk, Kirk Ryan and Aaron Lloyd, founders of K-Safe, and Matt Walsh and Helen Fish, founders of Beatstream Media, were awarded the #GoDo prize and £3,000 cash each.
Nominated by her fellow entrepreneurs Jade Mottley, founder of Performance for All, was presented with the Chiclets Choice award and £1,000 as a result of her hard work, determination and entrepreneurial spirit.
On the night eight entrepreneurs took to the stage to battle it out at the Entrepreneuring Awards pitching competition. Jennifer Bailey, founder of Calla; Tim Hewitt from Hewco Recruitment Limited; and Cool Cold Brew’s Joe Devereux Kelly, wowed the judges on the night with their 60 second pitch, and walked away with £1,000 each for their business.
Entrepreneurial Spark co-founder and Chief Entrepreneuring Officer Lucy-Rose Walker said: “Congratulations to all of our winners in Manchester! At Entrepreneurial Spark we focus on building people who build businesses, and taking home an Entrepreneuring Award shows how hard you’ve worked and progressed during your time in the Hatchery.”
Gemma Kirby, entrepreneur development manager at NatWest, said: “The awards recognise the hard work, commitment and determination the Chiclets have shown over the last few months.”
Stuart Burdass, head of Enterprise for KPMG in the North, said: “Seeing how far each of the Manchester Chiclets has come since embarking on their Entrepreneurial Spark journey is actually rather humbling.”
