The Pitch is back! Home nations to compete in UK’s biggest small business competition

For the first time, The Pitch, founded in 2008, will hold its preliminary heats in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland with the national champions going on to compete in a grand final for a £50,000 prize package, and the title of the UK’s Best New Business. 

 

The Pitch 2011, in association with marketing solutions business Yell, will see heats held in London (9 June), Cardiff (12 July), Edinburgh (18 August) and Belfast (21 September) over the summer.

 

Entrepreneurs will pitch their businesses to a panel of expert judges, in front of a live audience. Judges include serial social entrepreneur Karen Darby and Carl Hopkins, star of The Secret Millionaire.

Each event will comprise a live half-day conference and networking event which will provide support and guidance to local business owners. 

Entrepreneurs can find out more about the competition and submit their entry by visiting www.thepitch2011.com. If you'd like to be in the audience at one of the heats, you can join us for free.

The Pitch has grown every year since its inception in 2008, and has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs make invaluable business contacts and gain access to expert advice. 

The Pitch 2011 is a great opportunity for business owners to gain presentation experience and feedback, while getting expert advice on business strategy. The content of the live events is designed to be practically applicable to the key issues of running a business, and the publicity associated with the competition has given many former entrants a much-needed boost. 

The winner of The Pitch 2010 Ben Atkinson-Willes, founder of Active Minds and inventor of a series of products designed to help people in dementia care stay mentally active, said: "Being involved with The Pitch 2010 was a great, if slightly nerve-wracking, experience from start to finish. It was brilliant to meet experts like Doug Richard and Julie Meyer and get first hand advice from them.

"The publicity it generated for my business was phenomenal and the contacts I’ve made have proved incredibly useful. I would recommend getting involved in the 2011 competition to any entrepreneur."