PEM Gets behind The Big Pitch with Anglian Ruskin University
The Big Pitch 2012 launches today – and if last year’s successful search for the university’s brightest entrepreneurial students is any measure, the competition will be inventive, passionate and pioneering.
The Big Pitch mission is to provide entrepreneurial Anglia Ruskin students with capital, opportunities and expert advice to help realise their business dreams. PEM is backing this year’s competition with two highly regarded partners providing specialist knowledge in the accountancy sector. Chris Walklett, Business Tax Partner and Head of the Technology Team, and Laragh Jeanroy, Audit Partner and Head of the Corporates Team, will join the panel of judges and also share their wealth of knowledge as mentors to support the winners.
Chris comments: “The Big Pitch presents a potentially life-changing opportunity for the next generation of genius. Working with Anglia Ruskin to inspire entrepreneurial spirit in the pursuit of excellence gives us a chance to help cultivate forward-thinking business minds of the future. We are proud to share our professional insight and hope that it will be a valuable asset to this inspirational project.”
Sights are set high as this year’s phenomenal £30K prize fund will be shared between three winners with a £15K first prize, £10K second prize and £5K third prize. In addition, there is also a ‘people’s prize’ of £2,500 for the team judged to have given the best pitch by the grand final audience.
The competition is driven by Ben Mumby-Croft, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Enterprise Development at Anglia Ruskin, and jointly run by the Centre for Enterprise Development and Research (CEDAR) and Research, Development and Commercial Services (RDCS) at Anglia Ruskin in order to promote student enterprise and entrepreneurship across the University.
Says Ben: “We're delighted to be running The Big Pitch again in 2012, last year's event was a tremendous success and it’s great to build on this to reach even more students with this year's competition. We’re also delighted to have PEM onboard again as sponsors: getting the support of external business entrepreneurs and professional advisers adds huge value to the competition and is critical to its ongoing success. I very much look forward to working with Chris and Laragh from the PEM team and I’m sure they’re looking forward to seeing this year’s video entries”.
The Big Pitch is for bold and innovative business ideas – these could be anything from a new technology or internet business to a new consumer product, business service, social enterprise or an iPhone app. Ideas should be original and inventive demonstrating a viable market and significant growth potential.
The competition will run over three months from 9 February to 31 May 2012 and is divided into three phases of activity: the Video Pitch, The Big Pitch Boot Camp and the Grand Final. For more information on how to get involved visit www.thebigpitch.co.uk
