Argus competition to win boost for local businesses (From The Argus)

Argus competition to win boost for local businesses

4:00pm Wednesday 3rd October 2012 in News By John Keenan

The Argus is hoping to deliver a huge boost to promising local businesses.

For the second year running we are pledging free advertising and mentoring support to the most dynamic fledgling enterprises in Sussex.

Members of the local business community, Julia Chanteray, president of the Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce and boss at the Joy of Business, Karl Jones, owner and manager at Moshi Moshi restaurant in Brighton, and Penina Shepherd, founder of Acumen Business Law in Hove, alongside The Argus business editor John Keenan will form the judging panel for the Local Business Accelerators (LBA) campaign.

They will review and shortlist entries before awarding three local businesses the prize of free advertising and business advice.

The judges will also be looking to put the most promising businesses through to the national stage and the opportunity to have Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden as a mentor during 2012.

The LBA initiative is spearheaded by the voice of local media, the Newspaper Society. Its research showed that young business owners were most likely to use local newspapers to advertise and that form of advertising was the most effective.

If you run such a business, or know anyone who does, if it’s between one and five years old, and you want the chance to receive invaluable business support and advertising space in The Argus, visit www.accelerateme.co.uk for more information. Entries close on November 16.

Aaron Douglass, from Gastro Catering in Henfield, was one of last year’s three winners. He started the company, aged 17, working out of his mother’s kitchen.

Now aged 22, he has built a catering business from scratch, dealing with events such as weddings and conferences.

He said: “Winning the award gave the firm a real boost. Just seeing my name in the paper helped and obviously all the advertising really made a huge difference.

“We were getting more phone calls and visits to the website and people were showing a lot more interest. I had mentoring from entrepreneur Darren Fell which was very useful.

“Like me, he built his business up from scratch and it was great to be able to bounce ideas and get some advice.

“The business is doing very well at the moment and we have a lot of plans for the future.

“Entering the Local Business Accelerators scheme does not take long but it can make a big difference.”

The other winners were Brighton Film School in Ditchling Road and Verdi-Culture in Lewes Road, Brighton.

LBA national ambassador Deborah Meaden said: “With last year’s LBA having demonstrated the unique power of local and regional press to provide a meaningful boost to promising young businesses, I am delighted to be supporting the initiative once again.

“The campaign provided tangible examples of the real contribution that local newspapers can provide to young businesses across many different sectors, accelerating their development.”