Three Thousand Entries for Local Business Accelerators

A total of 3,000 businesses have applied to be part of the Local Business Accelerators scheme after a surge of entries over the weekend.

Last week, hundreds of local and regional newspapers were urging businesses to get their applications in ahead of the deadline on Monday (14 November).

Papers such as the Oxford Mail, Northern Echo, Derbyshire Times, Edinburgh Evening News, Daily Post, Eastern Daily Press, Bicester Advertiser,  Worthing Herald, and Cambridge News ran final calls to entry, prompting a surge of last minute entries.

Now, LBA judging panels will sift through entries and come up with a shortlist of businesses in the running for free advertising in their local media title and mentoring from LBA mentors.  

The successful businesses will also be in with a chance of winning a year’s mentoring from the campaign’s national ambassador Deborah Meaden, of the Dragons’ Den, who was interviewed by The Guardian last week.    

Hundreds of business leaders across the UK have signed up to be an LBA mentor with their local paper, and their task over the coming weeks is to select the most promising young businesses to go forward in the competition.

Examples of mentors include Michelle Mone of Ultimo, Liverpool Chamber of Commerce chief executive Jack Stopforth, and Prof Phil Harris, executive dean of the faculty of business, enterprise and life-long learning at the University of Chester, who signed up to take part in the Liverpool Echo’s LBA scheme.

Some titles, such as the North West Evening Mail, will host pitching sessions at which shortlisted businesses will present to the judging panel. The Evening Mail has recruited four prominent local businessmen to form the judging panel along with the paper’s business correspondent Amy Fenton.

The Shields Gazette’s judging panel features South Tyneside Council leader Iain Malcolm and Michael Arnot, manager of South Tyneside Business Forum, along with Gazette editor John Szymanski.

The scheme has been backed by a host of high profile figures in politics and business including David Cameron, John Cridland and Michelle Mone OBE as well as scores of local business leaders.

London entrepreneur Simon Prockter lent his backing to LBA this week saying: “Media is very important to small business, so to offer this level of free advertising is fantastic.”

Local organisations to back the campaign include Federation of Small Businesses in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire and Invest in Cumbria which have been tweeting regularly about the campaign, urging businesses to get involved.