Unique business competition one step closer to awarding GBP25,000 prize

Ten budding entrepreneurs in Scotland have made it through to the penultimate stage of a unique business competition and remain in with a chance of scooping a £25,000 first prize.

Talented entrepreneurs

Converge Challenge, a competition run by Heriot-Watt University aimed at discovering talented entrepreneurs and providing them with the financial support and expertise to help them get their business ideas off the ground, received 40 applications from universities across Scotland.

A panel of six judges made up of leading entrepreneurs and business men and women, now have the hard task of assessing and analysing the individual business plans of the remaining applicants, to whittle the field down one last time, to six who will go through to the final which will be held later this month.

The final ten include academics from the Universities of Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Strathclyde and Dundee as well as Heriot-Watt University.

Competition heats up

This is when the competition really heats up and I don't envy the judges having to decide which six will go through

Olga Kozlova, Enterprise Creation Manager,Heriot-Watt University

Olga Kozlova, Enterprise Creation Manager at Heriot-Watt University said: "This is when the competition really heats up and I don't envy the judges having to decide which six will go through. We've seen some really strong and exciting applications this year and the scope of ideas coming in has been broad.

"Scotland has so much to offer in terms of business innovation and excellence and the idea of Converge Challenge was to act as a springboard to supporting new talent in achieving and exceeding their goals. I wish the remaining 10 the best of luck and look forward to the final."

Converge Challenge 2011

The winner of Converge Challenge 2011 will be announced at a prestigious dinner event hosted by Steve Chapman, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University on 27 September.

Read more about  Converge Challenge.