Wow! What an exciting 6 months we’ve had with the second
annual #IAmEnterprising competition, funded by the Skill and Opportunity fund. Last week marked the final hurdle – The
Championship Finale! Our City of Liverpool College students had been building up
to this all important day for weeks and weeks and finally it was upon them!
The 7 students in the final were Matt Lawson with Matt Lawson Bass, Francezka and
Gabriella Bell with Choux Box Bakery,
Vladislav Siksnian with his Liverpool
Baltic Community Centre, Lauren Woodcock and her online business, Calamity LOL, Paul Simonsen and Furniture from Design, Kath Heavyside and
Wellness with Kath and Lisa Stambuli
as Lisa Stambuli Photography.
The difficult task of judging was down to Donal Bannon,
partners of headline sponsors of the competition, Morecrofts Solicitors, Jackie
Williams, Enterprise Director at The Women’s Organisation, David Melvin, Relationship
Manager at Natwest Bank and Joanne Austin, Digital Marketing and Engagement
Coordinator at The Women’s Organisation.
The finalists had previously all attended our #IAmEnterprising
Business Bootcamp back in March where they spent a full day working with a team
of business experts on their business plans, looking at marketing, market
research, financial forecasting and pitching, so they were all fully prepared
to give great presentations to our four judges!
The day flew by as our nervous finalists waited for their
turn to pitch their businesses and tell the judges why their idea was worthy of
the £3000 prize package! Each finalist had 10 minutes to speak about their idea
in whichever format they liked and were then grilled by the judges in a
question and answer session! We couldn’t believe the incredibly high standard of
these presentations, it was clear that the students knew their businesses
inside and out and were prepared to tell the judges why they should be the
winner!
But of course, there can only be one winner! So once the
finalists had finished their presentations it was time for the judges to
deliberate, all marking and decisions were made using a strict matrix style
approach to ensure fairness and transparency, but even so, the decision was a
difficult one to make with sure close competition.
As the students were called back into the presentation room to hear the results, the tension was palpable. Donal Bannon and Jackie Williams made the announcement. The winner of #IAmEnterprising 2016 was crowned…Matt Lawton of Matt Lawton Bass!
As the students were called back into the presentation room to hear the results, the tension was palpable. Donal Bannon and Jackie Williams made the announcement. The winner of #IAmEnterprising 2016 was crowned…Matt Lawton of Matt Lawton Bass!
Matt told us: ‘I am delighted to have won #IAmEnterprising! Going through this process made me sit down and actually think about how my online following could convert into a business model. I actually said to my girlfriend, even if I didn’t win the competition that I should do this anyway. It was the first time, I’d actually sat down and wrote a Business Plan and thought about 12 month financial projection. I’ve spent a lot of time over the years being involved in music and learning about the industry, winning this competition is hopefully going to help me develop a successful and profitable business.
Runners-Up were also awarded a £100 cash prize and the runners
up were; Gabriella and Francezka Bell of Choux
Box Bakery, Lauren Woodcock with Calamity
LOL and Paul Simonsen with ‘Furniture
from Design’
Donal Bannon, Partner at Morecrofts Solicitors who are the
headline sponsors of the competition said; ‘I
do hope that all the finalists, particularly those who did not win the prize,
will not be discouraged from pursuing their business ideas; after all Alan
Sugar and Richard Branson both started their businesses working from home and
they didn’t win any prizes!’
All of the finalists in the #IAmEnterprising Competition
will continue to be supported by The Women’s Organisation and City of Liverpool
College’s Enterprise Club to continue with their dreams of launching their
businesses.