Spelthorne Borough Council invited our Surrey Development Manager to sit on a panel of six judges, Dragons Den style at the annual Kwasi Kwarteng MP Business Plan Competition now in it’s 10th year and held at the fabulous BP Village headquarters in Sunbury where six worthy finalists would pitch their business plan to be awarded cash for their start-up.
The finalists were James from MotaTek, Natalie from DoodleKids, Suraj from SimpliPay, Francesca from The Kub Club, Anne from Beautiful Beautiful Soul and Oliver from The Thames Art Academy. All six finalists pitched perfectly to both the audience and judges utilising their allocated 5 minutes to the second.
Several local FSB members and volunteers were invited to attend this high-profile event.
Pitching complete the judges retired for half hour to deliberate during which the audience enjoyed networking over a superb finger buffet and drinks. It was no easy decision. Audience re-assembled and Kwasi announced the winner – Natalie founder of DoodleKids, a community interest company dedicated to fostering creativity, positivity and wellbeing in young minds. Natalie said in her winners address “Every child deserves to have access to resources that can help them thrive and reach their full potential.” Kwasi presented Natalie with a trophy and cheque for £3500.
BBC Radio Surrey conducted an interview with the winner as well as FSB.
Following the celebrations our DM sat down with Kwasi to discuss the recent one-pager FSB – Energy Recommendations now commonly known as ‘Blend and Extend’ which was very well received ending with a promise to discuss with colleagues.