31/01/13

Growth firms aim for date with Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden

Nicola and Brent Lewis, founders of Aylesford-based FooARage

by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Wood, skateboards and clothes for breast-feeding mums – that's the lineup for the Kent final of a media campaign to boost small business growth.

Local Business Accelerators, backed by Prime Minister David Cameron, business secretary Vince Cable, Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden and big-name business groups, is now in its second year.

Devised by the Newspaper Society and backed by publishing companies including the KM Group, it attracted more than 50 applicants from across Kent and Medway, and some 2,000 nationwide.

Three winners were chosen from eight Kent finalists after a challenging Dragons' Den-style presentation.

Bertie's Wood Fuel, FooARage and Milk Chic/Armed and Glamorous impressed judges, but it was a close run thing - with the other finalists demonstrating the quality of businesses in the county.

Melanie Brooks, founder of Maidstone-based Milk Chic and Armed and Glamorous

The winning trio have won free advertising in the multimedia KM Group newspapers and online, and free mentoring by experts at Reeves, the accounting and business advisory firm in Canterbury and Chatham Maritime.

Hadlow-based Bertie's, founded by Peter Tweddell, supplies high-quality wood fuel, kiln dried and seasoned logs, kindling and wood briquettes for open fires, stoves and log burners.

FooARage, a skateboard academy founded by Nicola Lewis and based in Larkfield, is a community interest company that helps young people - many disengaged from society - to take a new view on life by designing and building a skateboard or longboard. It also supports skate venues such as Cyclopark in Gravesend.

Melanie Brooks, from Maidstone, promotes fashion for breast-feeding mothers through her MilkChic business, and sleeved garments through her Armed and Glamorous enterprise.

One of the three will go through to the regional final this summer, with the prospect of a national final appearance - judged by scheme ambassador Deborah Meaden - in October.

Peter Tweddell, founder of Hadlow-based Bertie's Wood Fuel

Tim Levey, a partner with Reeves and one of the judges, said: "Overall the three winners are as strong as those that we picked last year and once again they come from a diverse range of background.

"Melanie, who runs the Armed and Dangerous and Milk Chic websites, has clearly spotted some great opportunities in the crowded internet marketplace great ideas but needs some help and support to develop them to the point where they really take off.

"Bertie's Wood Fuels has really hit the ground running and is continuing to experience fast growth. They also have plenty of plans in the pipeline that will sustain their expansion into other areas so that they will have a regional, rather than just a local offering.

"And FooARage has successfully tapped into the skateboarding sub-culture with a range of revenue generating activities which they are still getting to grips with, but show great promise."

For the full story, see Kent Business - out this week inside most KM Group paid-for newspapers.