Best New Business

Sponsored and judged by The Royal Bank of Scotland (visit website)

The Category

Has your company been trading for less than two years (at October 2008)? Are you experiencing rapid growth? Can you demonstrate strong business acumen and entrepreneurial flair in areas such as product and service development, marketing and overall business strategy? Do you have a plan for growth over the next three years?

Please enter the number of employees including contractors on the Entry Form. The judges will place your company in the small/medium or large division of the category as appropriate.

What the judges are looking for

Companies who have demonstrated high growth over the past twelve months which substantially exceeded their original business expectations.

Businesses should be able to demonstrate that, through maximising the opportunities available, they have grown sales faster than originally anticipated, that they have the necessary infrastructure and funding in place to support further expansion, and that personnel are fully motivated and experienced.

Please write your overall description in no more than 500 words (fewer are perfectly acceptable) and then separately answer the questions below. Where possible please attach supporting materials such as photos, leaflets, testimonials, etc. to back up your entry.

Specific questions to answer

1. How was the business opportunity originally conceived?
2. How did you go about setting up the company?
3. How do you measure the success of your business?
4. What marketing and advertising plans do you have?
5. What are your business expansion plans for the next three years?

About the judges

The Royal Bank of Scotland supports its customers with their growth aspirations by providing timely and bespoke funding solutions from its Commercial office in Tunbridge Wells. There is a wide range of support available from the organisation, ranging from trade finance to acquisition funding.

The judge for this category will be Roberto Serrecchia. Roberto is a highly experienced Senior Manager based in Tunbridge Wells. He has overall responsibility for the Commercial Bank in the Tunbridge Wells area, and he and his team are focused on providing financial services and funding solutions to what is a growing portfolio of commercial clients.

He is looking forward to receiving entries to the "Best Growing Business" category