Next Bigger Better and NACUE partner to create new College Business Accelerator Award debuting with £10,000 prize

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Matt Bamford-Bowes, Next Bigger Better Co-Founder, said: “At NextBiggerBetter we believe teenagers will change the world. Partnering with NACUE allows 16-18 year olds to compete on a national level for a life-changing prize."

London, London (PRWEB UK) 3 October 2013

NACUE, the non-profit organisation which supports young people learn entrepreneurial skills, and Next Bigger Better, an investment fund for teenagers, have together launched the inaugural ‘College Business Accelerator Award’. Offering a top prize of £10,000 to the best student run business in the country, as part of the national Varsity Pitch competition.

Varsity Pitch, is the UKs largest student business competition reaching thousands of students across 150 FE and HE campuses. Awarding prizes such as investment, mentoring and business advice in seven categories, including for the first time this year the ‘College Business Accelerator Award’, a category dedicated to 16-18 year olds.

Entrants have to create a 90-second pitch for their business and submit it to the NACUE website before 13 October. The ‘semi-final’ category winners will be chosen from 28 October and will go forward to the final at the British Library on 22 November where one will win the £10,000 top prize.

Matt Bamford-Bowes, Next Bigger Better Co-Founder, said:

"At NextBiggerBetter we believe teenagers will change the world, so we’ve decided to help them do it . We support young people in bringing their business dreams to reality and in by doing so to create their own path in life. We care about finding brilliantly creative, smart, entrepreneurial teenagers that can kick start an entrepreneurial revolution in Britain."

"Partnering with NACUE enables us to connect into a network of FE colleges on a broad scale, but more importantly allows 16-18 year olds to compete on a national level for a life-changing prize."

Last year’s overall winner Swogo, a system for helping online shoppers find the product they want, has used the money to further develop and promote their business and they now have interest from several multinational companies.

Hushpreet Dhaliwal, NACUE Chief Executive Officer, said:

"The values of creativity and leadership that involvement in entrepreneurial activity offer are valuable to everyone at every level of education and I’m excited that we’re opening up this competition to college students."

"I love watching the exciting pitch videos we receive every year and I can’t wait to see them coming from even more students than ever."

"Whether they go on to set up their own business, to help a small company to grow or inject new ideas into an established business, enterprise skills and entrepreneurial activity will give our young people the opportunity they need to make a contribution to the future of the UK."

ENDS

NACUE is the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs a network of student-led enterprise and entrepreneur groups comprising over 200 enterprise societies in further and higher education. NACUE was established in 2009 by the leaders of 12 university enterprise societies and has to reach tens of thousands of students with networking opportunities, mentoring and funding every year.

You can find more information about NACUE on our website http://www.nacue.com and about the Varsity Pitch competition at http://www.varsitypitchcompetition.com.

Next Bigger Better is set-up to find, mentor, fund and promote young entrepreneurs throughout the UK and throughout a diverse cross-section of industries. Next Bigger Better believe that the UK’s generation of 16-18 year olds will be the foundation of the UK’s entrepreneurial future.

Next Bigger Better – http://www.nextbiggerbetter.com

Swogo - http://www.swogo.com

For more information about NACUE contact Head of Communications, Will Hoyles, on 07447 589857.

For more information about Next Bigger Better contact Andy Battman on 07803031142 or Matt Bamford-Bowes on 07939235748.

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