Have you got your application in? This year's Glasgow's Got Business Talent is open until Monday September 10 before the judges get together and lock down to find the winners in each of the two categories.
The prizes are both practical and generous. Each of the winners will secure the value of more than £10,000 in cash and business support services. There's six months rent free space in one of Digital Enterprise Scotland's incubation hubs in the city and a package of extras that will really help the winner to build confidence and entrepreneurship.
The two distinct categories mean competitors face people in the same kind of situation. Category one takes in those early stage businesses, including pre-starts and those just venturing out. You must have been trading for less than two years.
Category two focuses on young established businesses that need help and support to move on from that early stage.
The judges come from across a whole range of commercial organisations, creative businesses, support services, technology and the third sector. They'll be looking for innovative business ideas with clear commercial potential, ideally focused on export, niche services or IP development.
They will want to see people with great entrepreneurial drive and spirit, who can quickly scale up and who have done the right research on the market for their product or service.
It's Glasgow's Dragon's Den and you will have to convince the judges.
Last year's winner, Sheila Logan, has opened her business, TenderCush, and is already trading online. She provides cushioned protection for women who have had breast cancer surgery, having learned from her own experience that there wasn't anything of the kind available.
Her highly effective yet discrete cushioned handbags are helping women to feel more confident moving around outside and her shaped cushion is a breakthrough when it comes to getting a comfortable night's sleep.
What made Sheila apply for the competition? "I first saw the competition mentioned on LinkedIn and had a look at the application process.
"I had been trading online for only a few months. The prize package sounded fantastic, so I started to fill in the application form. I left it a few days then nearly didn't apply, completing the application process almost at the last minute."
When she was announced a winner, Sheila was thrilled, not only with the prize package of advice and clothing but with what she describes as "the £5,000 lifeline" which, she says, "enabled me to instruct a quality textile firm to proceed with manufacturing the TenderCush products and labels.
"I would say to anyone who is thinking of applying for this year's competition but maybe intimidated by the prospect, that you have nothing to lose by entering, but a lot to gain in winning – so just go for it."
Andrew Collier
