For the second year running the Essex BIG Business Boost competition is launching to find and support Essex’s most promising entrepreneurs and micro businesses. Funded by Essex County Council’s Essex Innovation Programme (EIP), the competition builds on EIP’s ethos to help entrepreneurs and small businesses develop and take to market, their innovative products and services.
Last year the competition attracted more than 200 entries and saw tens of thousands of pounds of business support, training and cash prizes go to small businesses in Essex. Delivered by business enterprise agencies across Essex all entrants this year will be given credit towards free business support.
About the BIG Business Boost competition
The BIG Business Boost competition aims to identify the county’s most exciting business ideas and concepts. This year the competition has a new format with five categories celebrating the diversity of entrepreneurship across Essex…
- The Young Entrepreneur Award – for business owners aged from 16 to 30 years of age
- The Women in Business Award – for the county’s most innovative female-led businesses
- The Disability Entrepreneur Award (pre-start) – for Essex-based individuals with a disability with a commercially sustainable business idea/plan
- The Personal Triumph Award – a nomination-only award celebrating businesses and business people in Essex with a disability who have triumphed in the face of adversity
- The BIG Business Boost Award - open to any Essex-based business with 15 employees or less
Encouraging entrepreneurs across the county
Last year the BIG Business Boost competition was won by Morgan Collins for their revolutionary product to counter incontinence problems in children and adults. Morgan Collins won £3,000 and a year’s worth of business support.
Through the Essex Innovation Programme the company have been supported with prototype, development, product and branding design as well as securing a patent and accessing funding.
“It was such an honour to receive the BIG Business Boost award that recognises the hard work and dedication that we have put into our business. This was a real milestone for Morgan Collins and the cash reward and support took us to the next phase of development of our product.”
Lucy Morgan, Co-Founder, Morgan Collins
Award writing workshops to boost your chances of winning
Companies that wish to enter for an award are being given the chance to improve their chances at four Awareness Events that are taking place across Essex. These events will include…
• A workshop on ‘How to write a winning awards entry’ to help increase the chances of becoming an Award-winning business
• Hearing from one of 2015’s successful Essex BIG Business Boost entrants about their business journey
• A free £25 business support voucher
• Information and promotional giveaways from the Essex Innovation Programme which has helped companies in Essex access over £2 million in funding in the last two years
See here to register for an awareness event. Entry is free.
About the Essex Innovation Programme
The Essex Innovation Programme works with established companies and start-up businesses to help them to develop, and take to market, innovative products and services.
“We are really pleased to support this work in helping people with great business ideas access the professional help they need to develop those ideas.”
Helen Quinnell, Enterprise Project Officer, the Essex Innovation Programme
Find out more about the Essex Innovation Programme here.
See here for more information on the BIG Business Boost.
