Leeds students handed the chance to pitch for investment

Students and recent graduates are to have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pitch their business ideas to an esteemed panel of some of the region's top business advisors.
By The Newsroom
Published 6th Jun 2016, 12:36 BST
Updated 6th Jun 2016, 13:38 BST
Three entrepreneurs from Leeds Universities in competitive pitch for business grant. Picture from last year's event.Three entrepreneurs from Leeds Universities in competitive pitch for business grant. Picture from last year's event.
Three entrepreneurs from Leeds Universities in competitive pitch for business grant. Picture from last year's event.

As part of its Investment Readiness Programme, the West Yorkshire division of the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) is to offer a business grant to the two of the best pitches. Run in conjunction with the region’s universities, the initiative is now in its second year and supports ICAEW’s Business Advice Service

On June 13 three entrepreneurs from Leeds’s universities will pitch their business proposals at the event, which is to be held at Grant Thornton’s offices in the city. The panel of investors includes business advisor and angel investor Rachel Hannan, and Jeremy Wilson from WGN Chartered Accountants.

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The process last year allowed Lauren Nicholson, who won the President’s Award, to restructure her online greetings card start-up, Remember the Date.

She said: “Winning the Investment Readiness programme enabled me to take my idea of implementing video messages into greetings cards forward and make plans for the future. With the help from the funding, the business will relaunch video cards later this year.”

Chris Manners, Regional Director at ICAEW West Yorkshire, said: “Following the success of last year’s programme, we received almost double the number of applications this year, which made choosing our seven finalists no easy feat.

“ICAEW is committed to helping Yorkshire’s young and talented entrepreneurs grow their businesses.”

Related topics:LeedsWest YorkshireWalesEngland