Young Scottish entrepreneurs face UK's finest in new competition for £25K business plan prize

FIVE Scottish finalists are in the running to win a £25,000 prize for their business plan.

The teams and individual entrants are set to meet a tough challenge though as one of the competition's judges is Doug Richard, an expert who grilled contestants in the BBC2 television series Dragon's Den.

The Scottish contenders will face 13 other finalists from around the UK, who all entered the first National Student Business Plan Competition.

The contest is organised by the Scottish Institute for Enterprise (SIE), which aims to stimulate enterprise in higher education institutions. It is run on behalf of the UK Science Enterprise Centres (UKSEC) and is supported by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).

Entrants were asked to come up with cutting edge ideas and develop them into workable business plans, in order to show their entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen.

The winner will walk off with 25,000 from NESTA in order to bring their business plan to life.

The competition culminates with a black-tie awards ceremony, at the National Museum of Scotland, in Edinburgh, on 14 November.

The judges joining Doug Richard will be Joanna Higgins from Director magazine and NESTA's Nick Simmonds.

Sharon Bamford, chief executive of SIE, says: "We are delighted with the very high standard of entries that we've received for the first ever UK National Business competition.

"There's been a diverse range of business ideas from enterprising individuals who, in addition to undertaking their studies are also developing businesses start ups of great potential. Competitions like the UKSEC National Business Plan competition are a great way to encourage the entrepreneurs of tomorrow who will make a vital contribution to the UK economy."

Mark White, director of invention and innovation at NESTA, says: "NESTA was set up to invest in UK ideas with a commercial edge at the earliest stage possible.

"We aim to give them every chance of becoming a success through a system of financial and non-financial support.

"We're delighted to be extending our reach by working with SIE on the UKSEC National Business Plan.

"By targeting younger entrepreneurs we can capture that enterprising spirit early on, and give it the business support to help it thrive.

"We hope the benefits to the UK economy will be plain to see in the not too distant future."

The Scottish finalists in the competition are:

Michael Bowes, from Glasgow University, for Barhand, an innovative drinks vending machine designed to cut costs and queues and increase revenue.

Bilal Akram and Fahd Baig, both from Edinburgh University, for Alivox, a language identification system for multilingual call centres that passes callers automatically to the relevant desk.

Alex Maitland, Michael Romilly, Oskar Kirkwood, Sotirios Mitsis, Mike Wharton and Michael Collins, all from Abertay University, for Waracle, a way of letting on-line PC gamers place a wager on their favourite games.

Susanne Olsen, from Robert Gordon's University, who set-up Clear Process Ltd, a company that has developed a technology that aims to tackle the global problem of climate change by separating the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, from other gases.

Ernesto Spinosa and Jose Mota, from Stirling University, who have developed a revolutionary system that allows animal waste to be disposed of in a way that complies with environmental regulations in Britain and the EC.