The best young businesses in the area are about to get even better now the winners of the 2013 Spalding Guardian Local Business Accelerators (LBA) campaign have been announced.
GiftsOnline4U of Spalding, ANP Services Spalding and Glass By DnR of Sutton Crosses can now look forward to mentoring from local business, legal and finance experts and an advertising package worth hundreds of pounds.
They will also be put forward to win a national prize of a year’s mentoring by Business Ambassador Deborah Meaden, the entrepreneur and investor who appears on TV’s Dragons’ Den.
The winner will also receive a local advertising campaign devised by a top London creative agency, plus a £10,000 cash sum from the Business Growth Fund.
Over the past few weeks six local businesses on the shortlist have been visited by the South Lincolnshire-based business mentors Spalding Guardian and Lincolnshire Free Press editor Jeremy Ransome, Deborah Brown from Roythornes solicitors, Paul Fox from NatWest bank and Alistair Main from Duncan and Toplis chartered accountants.
Other businesses on the shortlist were J Heanes Electrical of Sutton St James, MRN Recruitment Ltd of Spalding, and Drive By Websites Ltd of Spalding.
Jeremy said: “We were delighted with the standard of entries this year. Choosing the finalists was not easy but we feel they will most benefit from the help the mentors can offer.”
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, finalist Sabina Dungarwalla of GiftsOnline4U was really feeling the love.
She said: “We are really excited to be one of the winners and are looking forward to getting the expert help we need to help our business grow.”
Duncan Barker-Magowan of Glass By DnR is particularly delighted by the advertising package.
He said: “You can throw a lot of money at promoting your business, but now we have experts to help us and that is fantastic.”
Looking forward to excellent growth is gardening and lawn car business ANP Services Adam Pilgrim said: “I was really surprised to win but I’m now looking forward to bigger and better things to come.”
Watch out for features on all of our winners in future editions of the Spalding Guardian.