Calling all driven entrepreneurs. You have just one month left to enter The
Sunday Times Bank of Scotland Corporate £35m Entrepreneur Challenge. In what
is the most valuable prize ever awarded to British business, Bank of
Scotland Corporate will be providing seven regional winners from across the
country up to £5m interest-free funding for three years to enable them to
grow their business and take it to the next level.
One national winner will also receive several days mentoring from one of
Britain’s most successful entrepreneurs. The winner of last year’s
Entrepreneur Challenge, Matt Riley, who founded Daisy Communications, which
provides telephony services to small firms, is currently being mentored by
Sir Philip Green, owner of Topshop and BHS.
Mentoring has been proven time and again to be one of the best ways ambitious
entrepreneurs can take their business to the next level. Typically someone
with in-depth experience of running a business, a mentor can provide an
entrepreneur with unbiased guidance and advice in a way that a board member
or someone on the management team cannot.
In a survey of 250 UK entrepreneurs who entered last year’s Entrepreneur
Challenge, Bank of Scotland Corporate found that 42% of them had a mentor.
Respondents said the benefits of having a mentor included having someone who
could act as a sounding board for new ideas, who could provide advice on
business issues and someone who would be honest and could help to keep them
focused.
One entrepreneur said: “I would say it is crucial to have a mentor because you
cannot possibly know everything.”
Another respondent, Nic Wastell of Completely Independent Distribution, said
of his mentor: “His wealth of experience is invaluable. Every question we
have, he will have an answer for.”
The survey also found that of those people who do not have a mentor, almost
half said they would consider getting one in the future.
To be eligible to enter the Entrepreneur Challenge your business must have a
turnover of at least £2m and at least two years of continuous growth in
profits and sales. The business can be in almost any industry sector, with
one or two exceptions. The key to success is to inspire our panel of judges
and to prove that you have the determination to succeed.
The deadline for entries is midnight, Monday, May 19, so you need to take
action now.
Find out more about the Entrepreneur Challenge and download an entry form from www.theboschallenge.co.uk.
You can also follow the progress of the competition at www.timesonline.co.uk/entrepreneur
