Supporters

	Basepoint Basepoint’s four local centres are teaming up with the University of Gloucestershire in the ‘BUG’ initiative. We see this competition as vital in helping budding entrepreneurs gain and develop the skills they need in order to run their own business. Basepoint is also offering the winners some valuable prizes including: • 10 hours free use of our meeting rooms in any of the local Basepoints (Tewkesbury, Swindon, Evesham and Bromsgrove) • Free Basepoint Membership for life (including free access to all 28 Basepoints nationwide) • Free invitations to our networking events This package has the cash equivalent of £180, but is potentially worth much more in business-terms. Claire Vagges, centre manager at Basepoint Tewkesbury, commented: “We are eager to support enterprise and entrepreneurship in the area and believe that this initiative is a great way to do so – the BUG programme gives budding entrepreneurs the right skills, at the right time and hopefully enables them to add to the business community within the local area.” Basepoint Tewkesbury offers a wide range of high quality office space and workshops which have been designed with small to medium businesses in mind. Thanks to Basepoint’s easy-in-easy-out licensing agreements, small businesses can take office space on without being tied into lengthy contracts – just two weeks’ notice is required for a business to leave. Situated off junction 9 of the M5, Basepoint Tewkesbury provides a wide range of high quality, managed offices, workshops and meeting rooms in friendly, purpose-built premises and on flexible terms. For details, contact the Basepoint team on 01684 854444 or email tewkesbury@basepoint.co.uk. For more information on Basepoint and what we have to offer, visit www.basepoint.co.uk. Good luck to all the participants and we hope to see you all at Basepoint soon!
	The Chartered Institute of Marketing The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the leading international professional marketing body with members worldwide. First established in 1911 it defines the marketing standards that operate in the UK and is the global champion of best marketing practice. The Institute exists to develop the marketing profession, maintain professional standards and improve the skills of marketing practitioners, enabling them to deliver exceptional results for their organisations. It does this by providing membership, qualifications and training to marketing professionals and businesses around the world. Visit: www.cim.co.uk for more information. The local Gloucestershire branch of The Chartered Institute of Marketing provides member led activities and events that provide networking and personal development opportunities. The branch strives to provide activities that contribute to continued professional development (CPD) hours – a requirement for all Chartered Marketers and activities that help keep local marketers up-to-date on local marketing issues and industry developments. For more information on activities organised by your local Gloucestershire branch of The Chartered Institute of Marketing please visit: www.cim.co.uk/southwest or email your local branch chair: swglos@cim.co.uk
	Chartered Management Institute As the only chartered professional body for management and leadership, we understand the management issues that impact on organizational performance. The Gloucestershire branch is delighted to support the University of Gloucestershire Business Planning Competition as it provides participants with practical experience of planning and making management decisions. Scott Harvey Branch Chairman
	Marketest Marketest is a leading online market research company for business start-ups. We primarily work with pre-startup and start-up entrepreneurs and companies launching a new product or service. We provide a full range of market research services, testing the way people will react to a product or service. We use online questionnaires to examine the buying habits and needs of specially selected sample groups of potential customers. We have more than 10 years’ experience in helping start-ups test their target markets. We provide local, national and international market research using more than 950,000 targeted panellists. Of recent years we have provided our cost-effective and rapid research services to premier enterprise and business societies in the UK. We help innovative students understand the importance of market research and offer a fantastic support prize to those who want to take their enterprising idea to the next level.
	Meteorical Brian Dorricott is the Managing Director of Meteorical which provides services to Investors and Entrepreneurs. Over the past years, Brian has introduced details of the investment world to students on the business program and more recently presented Tycoon Towers - a building game with no rules!
	Natwest "Natwest are again proud to be able to support the University of Gloucester's Bug programme. The programme provides students,Alumni and staff the opportunity to enhance their own business skills, whilst also giving them the insight into many of the financial/marketing and theoretical aspects to business. Many businesses start up without any forethought and this programme, with it's workshops provides the perfect foundation for new up and coming businesses and entrepreneurs for the years to come. I wish everyone taking part this year the very best of luck and hope that you take advantage of every workshop"
	Randall & Payne Randall & Payne Chartered Accountants believe in combining great advice with excellent service. Our firm has almost 130 years’ experience of working with businesses, which underpins our young, dynamic partnership, offering a wide range of services to help Gloucestershire companies grow. We became involved in the BUG competition because we enjoy working with young, entrepreneurial enterprises, having helped a number of today’s most successful Gloucestershire companies grow from initial ideas to multi-million pound businesses. We also like to be involved in the local community and this competition gives us a chance to offer support to some of Gloucestershire’s leading minds. Often the people with the best business ideas only maximise their potential if they surround themselves with the best support and advice. We hope that the entrants would value our support and allow us to help them take their ideas forward into successful, thriving businesses. Randall & Payne is an accredited training firm and we regularly seek to recruit graduates to train as accountants.
	Rickerbys As one of the region's leading law firms, our clients rightly expect us to deliver top quality legal advice. What sets us apart from other firms is the time we spend understanding our clients and their needs, so we can deliver relevant and workable solutions. We are proud of our reputation as lawyers with a flexible approach and "get-the-job-done" attitude. From our Cheltenham base, our goal is to provide our clients with the best expertise, attention and service available and we thrive on achieving this ambition. We have specialist teams providing both commercial and personal legal advice which means that we are able to provide a seamless service which other firms find hard to match. We firmly believe in doing all we can to help people through the maize of legal requirements which they have to negotiate when setting up in business. As part of this we are delighted to support the University in the workshop and seminar series that it provides to entrants to the BUG competition. The guidance available to participants helps aspiring entrepreneurs to address potential pitfalls and equip themselves with the skills to succeed in business. We hope that our sponsorship of this competition will help provide a step along the way to success in business for all those participating. For further information about Rickerbys please email Aimie Haylings aimie.haylings@rickerbys.com