Events and competitions
National and international competitions and funding awards
If you are interested in entering external competitions or you are looking for possible business funding streams, please see the links below:
China UK Entrepreneurship Competition
The China-UK Entrepreneurship Competition aims to encourage new business ventures between China and the United Kingdom and is intended to simulate the real-world process of entrepreneurs soliciting start-up funds from early-stage investors and venture capital firms.
A charity which supports social entrepreneurs, UnLtd currently offers two levels of award: Level 1 Awards of between £500 and £5,000 (expected average of £2,000) and Level 2 Awards of up to £15,000.
The UK's biggest online community for young entrepreneurs (aged 16-30) who are starting or running their own business. They offer free online business advice and support, funding and networking opportunities to new start ups.
Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards organised by the bank aim to celebrate the Best Start-Up and Best Enterprise with prizes of up to £50,000 for the winners to invest in their businesses.
HSBC Growth Grant Competition for £50,000
Barclays Take One Small Step Start Up Competition for £50,000
Nationwide business plan competition hosted by Find Invest Grow(FIG), sponsored by the RBS Group and LinkedIn. The competition takes place between 2 April 2012 and 15 June 2012 and has a total prize package of £40,000. The competition is open to any student or graduate (of the past 5 years) who has an idea that needs investment to help kick-start the business.
Enterprise Now Business Start Up & New Business Competition with first prize of £4000
Target Events - Best Beer Competition
Pitch Competition with a prize package of £50,000
Marketest Business Plan Competition
Marketest, online quantitative market research experts for entrepreneurs, organise business start-up competitions with the chance to win £1000 or £500 market research prize.
Engineering YES (Young Entrepreneurs Scheme)
The competition takes place between 8 April to 19 June 2013. It is a competition for UK-based post-graduates students and post-doctoral researchers to present a business plan for an imaginary start-up company to a group of investors and industry experts. There are also over £2000 worth of cash prizes up for grabs.
Awards for All - Awards for All England is supported by the Arts Council England, the Big Lottery Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Sport England. They award grants of between £300 and £10,000 for people to take part in art, sport, heritage and community activities, and projects that promote education, the environment and health in the local community.
J4bGrants - Includes information about UK Government and European grants as well as other sources of funding
HE Social Entrepreneurship Awards - Awards available to students wanting to start up and/or develop a social enterprise project
North East Access to Finance - includes Access to Finance Guide 2011[pdf, 5MB]
Shell Springboard - Competition for small businesses who have an innovative product or service that will help address climate change. Winners receive cash prizes of up to £40,000
Turn2us - Search for charitable funding
Ideas Fund - Funding opportunities for creative projects
