I have the great pleasure of working with New East Manchester on a regeneration project to encourage businesses in that deprived region to grow and create jobs. I will typically spend one morning talking to businesses about growth strategies and planning. Contestants will then be encouraged to submit business plans to the panel after some coaching and advice. The best five plans are then invited to spend a further ½ an hour with me for some coaching (luckily for me, they have so far all taken the opportunity). A winner is then selected who will get a £10,000 prize and a runner up will get £5,000.

The process is run twice a year and the latest winner of the process is Barking Barbers. I was delighted to see them win and I congratulate the Entrepreneur behind this great operation.

One of the things I enjoy most about this competition is that it gives me access to all kinds of entrepreneurs operating at lots of different levels. I would never have come across Barking Barbers in any way other than this competition.

The business is very simple. It provides holistic grooming for dogs. This includes Reiki healing. The first question I asked was how many clients this business has and was staggered when the answer was almost 400. The business is doing very well and needs cash to expand.

I was also amazed to learn that there are very few certified holistic pet healers and it does cost a small fortune to become registered for this. The business would expand by not just growing organically, but by also allowing students of the art to serve apprenticeships with them (for which the students will have to pay the business)

This small story just proves the point about the vitality of the business scene. Opportunities exist everywhere. All you need is the ability to make it happen. And from my limited experience, I would argue that what you really need is the desire to make it happen and the humility to learn how to make it happen.

And it helps of course if you are barking mad! (if you have better jokes please send them to pvalia@businessangelblog.com )

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