Thank you!
Early feedback from the event has been excellent. The team felt it gave them good insight and ideas that they can use with their customers.
Thanks again for an excellent day.
Laurence Backler, Director, NatWest Business Banking, Ashford & Tunbridge Wells Area
Young Business Minds - The Finalists
The judges were extremely impressed by the quality of the business plans and presentations from this year's finalists. Here is a summary of each team's plan and the judges feedback.
Winner - graFIX (Uplands Community College, Wadhurst)
Team members:
Matteo Pontonutti
William Maltby
Mikey Pooley
Bruce Parker
Business idea
graFIX is a team of photo manipulators who offer airbrushing and photo manipulation services at a low cost. Their target market is primarily users of social networking sites that want a stylish profile picture.
Business plan:
You can download a copy of the business plan here.
Judges comments:
We were very impressed with the way this team worked together and presented their ideas. This business is almost ready to start running with the plans you already have in place.
While we feel that you have set the price too low for the quality of your work, we agree that your target audience - primarily Facebook users - would not be prepared to pay a higher price. However, we would advise that you look into other markets that may be prepared to pay more for your service. Models putting together a portfolio would certainly be willing to pay a higher price than you are charging. There may also be a demand from newlyweds who want their wedding photos optimised.
Advertising on Facebook is an excellent way of reaching your target market and staying within your budget. In addition, offering an incentive for recommendations is well thought out. If you choose to target other markets, you will need to consider the best ways of doing this.
Your financial forecast shows a great deal of thought. However, you are rather optimistic about the number of orders you expect to receive in the first six months. You were wise not to expect to operate at full capacity but you may receive fewer orders than you expect while your marketing plans are in the early stages.
You also need to think about how you can expand to meet demand. Can you maintain the same standard of work with freelancers hired at the level of commission you are proposing?
Runner-up - Teenwork (Uckfield Community Technology College)
Team members:
Simon Brooks
Gabrielle Randall
Elizabeth Durrant
Amy Donnelly
Business idea:
TeenWork is a recruitment website advertising jobs specifically for teenagers, who are looking for a part time or a full time job or apprenticeship after leaving school.
Business plan:
You can download a copy of the business plan here.
Judges comments:
We were impressed with this idea, and the team showed an excellent understanding of brand, having developed business cards and corporate gifts to make an impact with their presentation.
The team successfully identified a gap in the market and their market and competitor research was thorough and well presented. We could see how this would be a popular facility for young people and employers.
The team must be prepared on start-up to address any imbalance between the number of available jobs and the number of job-seeking teenagers. There must be enough interested teenagers signed up to encourage businesses to place ads, and enough job ads placed to encourage students to keep coming back to the website if a suitable placement wasn't initially available.
The team would also benefit from further research into the cost of setting up a website and also the wage expectations of the average website manager.
We also felt that the business was too small to sustain the owners. More thought needs to be given to how it could be grown to make more than a few thousand pounds a year.
Highly Commended - Freedom Holidays (Heathfield Community College)
Team members:
Alex Payne
Charlie Weekes
Seb Western
Business idea:
Freedom Holidays offers a holiday retreat in the Lake District for disabled people and their carers, that allows carers to enjoy a holiday with their loved one with a full nursing and support facility.
Judges comments:
The team members were well presented and confident speakers. The business idea was imaginative and well thought out. This was the most ambitious plan we saw in terms of start up costs and scale of business.
The financial figures were very optimistic. The plan would benefit from further research into the cost of specialist equipment required for the guests and the cost of wages. This said, it was wise of the team to expect not to accommodate their full capacity in the first year.
£350 per couple per week is too low. Customers will expect to pay more for a bespoke service, particularly one including specialist care. The team will need to determine the price using a combination of an accurate analysis of their costs and wider research into competitor prices.
The marketing plan needed some additional attention. A poster campaign is a good start, but this will only capture opportunistic custom. People searching for this sort of holiday are likely to begin on the internet. A website and online marketing should be included in the marketing budget at the outset.
Highly Commended - Catch a Lift (Uckfield Community Technolagy College)
Team members:
Ludo Goodliffe
Henry Armstrong
David Sutton
Business idea:
Catch-a-Lift is a lift sharing service using a smartphone app. After signing up to Catch-a-Lift, drivers can advertise any trips they plan to take to potential passengers. Interested passengers can then contact them to arrange a lift.
Business plan:
You can download a copy of the business plan here.
Judges comments:
The team were confident in their business plan and this came across in the presentation.
The idea divided our opinions and raised some difficult questions that the team were able to answer competently.
The main potential issue was one of security and with some fine tuning, to ensure passengers' safety, the team were convincing in their belief that this could be ensured. Additional research into insurance in the case of a traffic accident would be prudent.
The team did particularly well in developing a mock-up app - this was impressive and well designed. It would be a persuasive tool to present to potential investors.
As the initial target market is relatively small, we were concerned whether sufficient drivers could be found to match with people requiring lifts and how journeys could be aligned. We were impressed that you had a backup option lined up in case a driver could not be found for a certain journey; however we felt that a very strong sales pitch would be needed to persuade a taxi company to get involved with the scheme.
Finalists - Score Keepers (Uplands Community Collage, Wadhurst)
Team members:
Harry Forss
James Pearson
Business Idea:
Score Keepers have designed a handheld digital score keeping devise to prevent losing score during a tennis match. These will be manufactured in bulk and sold through high street sports retailers.
Business plan:
You can download a copy of the business plan here.
Judges comments:
This is an imaginative idea that we could see would be useful to regular tennis players. However, the team needs to determine a more accurate estimate of potential customers. The demand is likely to be seasonal, so the financial plan needs to account for this. In addition, a more accurate cost of assembly and materials needs to be determined. An RRP of £12-15 is unrealistic if the cost to suppliers is £9.99.
We were also concerned about ordering such a large quantity at the outset as the business runs the risk of having too much stock. This has happened to many companies with good products that don't sell and end up sold cheaply on novelty websites. Storage costs will also need to be accounted for.
The reasoning behind the logo colour scheme was well thought out, but the design was too close to the Olympic logo so a redesign should be considered.
Finalists - EAT fresh (Beacon Community Collage)
Team members:
Bryan Dar
Adrian Janiga
Regan Shahi
Roger Mandera
Isabelle Hawkins
Business Idea:
EAT fresh is a catering company that delivers low priced healthy lunches to businesses in Tunbridge Wells.
Judges comments:
We were impressed with the PowerPoint slides and presentation. The brand name is a good one and the logo is memorable. The team did well to identify Tunbridge Wells as a suitable location although further research needed to be done into the current competition and the potential for ‘turf wars'.
We questioned whether the low prices were achievable and, indeed whether it was necessary to compete on price.
We believe there is a demand for healthy food in the area, but believe that customers that demand healthy food are not concerned with low prices. Low prices are associated with low quality food. It was suggested that the team do further research into the actual cost of producing their lunches.
It would be useful to reassess the number of delivery vans required - people want lunch at 1pm, so the business will need to access many businesses at this time of day.
While the cashflow assumptions are optimistic, the team correctly assumed the net profit margin of 10%.
Finalists - The Hub (Beacon Community Collage)
Team members:
Lauren Maidman
Rosie Playford
Beckie Ellis
Jack Webb
Richard Woodruff
Business Idea:
The Hub is a place for young people to socialise during free periods, after college and at the weekend. It will include a cafe as well a place for local bands to play, based in Brighton. To increase revenue, the company also plan to rent out the space.
Judges comments:
We were impressed by the team's presentation and their interaction with the panel. They were well presented and confident in their approach.
We agree that Brighton would be good location for The Hub due to the proximity to the target market, although transport can be an issue for teenagers and parking in Brighton is expensive - these issues would need to be addressed.
The business plan would benefit from further research into the cost of starting up, including a realistic cost of renting a large property in a town centre and associated legal costs, such as music licenses.
The main problem for this team was how to finance the predicted losses in the first three years. The target audience is known for having little disposable income so the sustainability of the business and the achievement of income targets could be difficult.
We were impressed that the team had thought of renting the space as an extra source of income. The target market for this needs to be identified and targeted accordingly as part of the marketing plan. However, as The Hub would be open to students for the majority of the week, would there be enough flexibility in availability to encourage clients to rent it?
Finalists - Where's My Bus? (Heathfield Community Collage)
Team members:
Laura Drury
James Meikle
James Morrell
Joe Pattenden
Business Idea:
Where's My Bus comprises a smartphone application and a call centre that allow customers to track where their bus is at using GPS tracking. It also allows customers to see how many seat there are available. This company will launch in a test location then use the proceeds to expand across the UK.
Judges comments:
We thought that this was an excellent idea, based on an understandable demand, particularly in more rural areas where buses are less regular.
The business plan could have been improved by further research into the number of buses and routes that would need to be covered at the outset, and the associated cost of this.
The team explained that development into wider areas depended on the income gained by app sales in the trial area. The trial area must be wide enough to generate the required income. 91,000 downloads in the first year, and the associated profit, seems a little high.
As the trial area will be relatively small, the team will need a high proportion of the local inhabitants to purchase the app or contact the call centre. We feel that the current marketing plan may not facilitate this.
Further research into the unit cost would also benefit this plan - £500 per unit seems high. The unit cost would undoubtedly fall if the order quantity was high. In addition, costs would need to be taken into account for implementing and running a call centre.
