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Scotland’s best businesses urged to enter Business Thinking 2010

Posted Thursday 6 May 2010 13:30 GMT

Thinking businesses across in Scotland could win a share in £90 million worth of funding, a financial reward of up to £100,000 and an overseas Thought Exchange Trip for networking and business development, courtesy of HSBC Commercial Banking's new initiative, ‘Business Thinking 2010’.

Business Thinking 2010 is a new initiative from the bank to help support and fund the UK's most innovative and forward thinking companies.

Businesses with turnovers in excess of £2million can log onto the Business Thinking 2010 section of the HSBC website and put forward their vision and ambitions for the company, how its management team intends to achieve them and how the prize would help them succeed.

Business Thinking 2010 has three phases of reward for successful entrants. Phase one will see up to 54 companies, from nine regions across the UK, shortlisted as Regional Finalists. Each company at this stage will have the opportunity to participate in an international Thought Exchange, as a guest of HSBC, to one of the world's most dynamic areas of economic growth - China, the Americas or Europe - for the chance to meet like-minded business thinkers and enjoy networking and business development opportunities.

At phase two, the Regional Finalists will be invited to refine their business case to win, based on the insights gained on the Thought Exchange, to be judged by HSBC's panel of experts. Two Regional Winners per region will receive up to £5 million in lending plus a financial reward of up to £100,000 each.

Phase three will see one of the of the 18 Regional Winners crowned overall Business Thinking 2010 winner at a gala event in Hong Kong in front of an international audience, earning them a further financial reward of up to £100,000.

John Rendall, CEO for HSBC in Scotland, said: "We know the most successful businesses are those that innovate and invest to get ahead and we are launching Business Thinking 2010 to help support companies across Central Scotland do just that. We firmly believe that for many UK businesses, trading internationally could help them drive their way out of the recovery to success, which is why we are giving so many finalists from Scotland the chance to meet like-minded companies in other countries and find out about doing business overseas.

"Last year we increased our lending in Scotland by 35% and we are locally based in 63 countries across the world. By providing global perspectives and local opportunities we are already helping many Scottish-based companies in succeeding overseas and I would urge businesses thinking about making this step to enter Business Thinking 2010 today."

Entrants to Business Thinking 2010 are required to fulfill the following criteria to apply:

  • You believe you can demonstrate outstanding business thinking whether you trade internationally or only in the UK
  • Your business is based in the UK and has operated for two years or longer
  • Your turnover is £2 million or more
  • You can provide Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet information for a minimum trading period of 12 months
  • You can provide projected financials for a minimum of two years

Interested companies should log onto onto the Business Thinking 2010 section of the HSBC website to register interest and receive an application form. For questions regarding entries and the process, companies should ring 0800 328 3211.

Closing date for entries is midnight on 25 June 2010. Full terms and conditions are available on the above website.

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