As gestation periods go, 17 years takes some beating.

But that’s how long Shoreham entrepreneur Dave Solomons took between conceiving the idea of the Snuggle Bundl, the world’s first baby-lifting blanket, and delivering it to the market. Now the new product has made it through to the final stages of a national competition and has a chance of winning one of nine £50,000 prizes in the Barclays Take One Small Step initiative.

The money goes towards making business dreams a reality, whether it is a totally new business idea from a start up with a dream, or an existing business that wants to go to the next level. Mr Solomons came up with the idea when his daughter was born.

He said: “My wife had a Caesarean delivery and I suffered from a bad back so we really struggled to carry our little girl.

“I had the idea but there were a few issues with it so it stayed on the back burner, until I met my business colleague and fellow inventor Mike Edwards.” The business partners live next to each other on houseboats in Shoreham.

Mr Solomon said: “I teamed up with Mike, a friend and a fellow father, inventor and designer, and together we worked on the ergonomic design so that the head and neck were fully supported and protected and so that your baby can be picked up, carried and placed down with just one hand and without the need to stoop down and lift awkwardly.

“The Bundl solves the age-old problem for parents who fear waking their sleeping babies while simply moving them around, and all the while your baby will be warm, safe and snug.

“We are passionate about the product being British-made too, and are having it manufactured here, including the material.

“We want to create jobs in this country. We met with Barclays about opening an account for the business and our business manager suggested that we enter the competition. It seemed like a brilliant competition, so we took his advice.”

Barclays Business area manager for West Sussex, Keith Fox, said: “It is great to have a Sussex-based finalist. It’s a testament to the entrepreneurial spirit that the Barclays business managers in Sussex see every day. Right now these businesses need the public’s votes to win.

“We’ll only be able to award the life-changing prize to the most popular idea in each region, so now it’s all over to the public.”

In total there are 27 finalists from across nine regions throughout Great Britain.

To vote for your favourite, visit www.takeonesmallstep.co.uk or if you want to support Mr Solomons text the word snuggle to 62555.