Independent wine merchants could win £200k investment

By Gemma McKenna

Published: 23 January, 2014

Independent merchants with "fire in their bellies" for retailing could win up to £200,000 of investment and mentoring from the Worth Foundation.

The retail consultancy, which has worked with Superdrug, L'Oreal, Siemens and the BBC among others, now wants to find Britain's best new retailers.

An expert panel will scour the nation for a retail entrepreneur with a big idea. Winners and runners-up will have access to an investment prize of up to £200,000 being raised on equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs, which allows the public to invest in and own a portion of each of the Worth Foundation winning businesses.

Once the contest is closed and investment target reached, the winner will have access to up to £100,000 of investment and up to £50,000 of investment will be made available to each of the two runners-up.

The winner will also get £3,000 of funding from Worth, plus expert mentoring equivalent to £9,000 to help them get their ideas off the ground, and the opportunity to boost their brand with a pop-up shop at Shoreditch's Boxpark for one month. Runners-up will receive £1,500 each and £4,500 worth of mentoring from the team.

Alex Johns and Paul Soanes founders of Worth Retail, will head up the judging panel, which is comprised of top UK entrepreneurs.

To be eligible, retailers need to have been trading for no more than two years and have a turnover of less than £250,000.

Soanes said: "People complain that the retail landscape is changing too fast, but for those with the right knowledge, this presents a real opportunity.

"Through the Worth Foundation Fund, we want to find talented people with fire in their belly for retailing, and help equip them with the resources, skills and knowledge they need to grow their businesses into sustainable and profitable endeavours.

"It could be someone who has a new consumer product that will have mass appeal, or a popular digital or technology retail idea. We want someone who has the insight to identify gaps in the market, the imagination to come up with a niche idea or product range to fill it and the inspiration to make it happen and get the public reaching for their wallets.

To enter visit the Worth Foundation and to invest, visit seedrs.

Printer friendly version