LONDON: More than 150 Greater Manchester entrepreneurs and small businesses attended a Virgin Media Business event last night at Gorilla.
Launched by Sir Richard Branson the ‘#VOOM:PItch to Rich 2015’ event was hosted in association with Eventbrite.
The nationwide competition invites SMEs of all sizes and aspiring entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to the Virgin Group Founder for the chance to win a share of a £1m business accelerator prize fund.
Last night’s event marked the first stop on the tour of six major cities across the UK, seeking to find some of Manchester’s best business minds.
Renaud Visage, Eventbrite founder, said he followed the Branson “screw it, let’s do it philosophy” which meant “building the best possible product with limited resources in order to make Eventbrite a success.”
Richard Reed, founder of Innocent and Visage shared their success stories and offered advice on how growing businesses can achieve their goals.
Three entrepreneurs also had the opportunity to get feedback on their pitching skills from a panel of experts. The ideas pitched included:
Wicker Wings – a brother and sister team which makes fashion bags created from wicker, with a bag-for-bag scheme that donates a bag filled with books and stationery to a child in China.
Abdirahman Jama from Pinnacle – a local mobile advertising agency that bridges the gap between local businesses and their consumers through mobile devices.
Mark Harrison, inventor of Triple Tread – a three wheeled bicycle which aids MS sufferers to engage in exercise.
