SnoozeShade and Pourty may have the X-Factor!
Which Baby Brand Will Have The X-Factor At The England Final Of The Pitch 2011?
Thursday 9 June sees two of the nursery industry's finest newcomers up against each other in a bid to be crowned the winner of the England final of The Pitch 2011 - Britain's biggest annual small business competition.
Cara Sayer, inventor of SnoozeShade, the UK's first blackout blind for prams and strollers and Jon Rathbone, inventor of Pourty, the potty that pours, will be pitching to a panel of esteemed judges in the hope of being chosen to go to the national final in November and be in with a chance to take home a business support prize worth £50,000.
Cara and Jon were chosen from hundreds of applicants to take part in the first of four national heats. A total of five entrepreneurs will pitch their businesses in front of a live audience and a panel of judges on 9 June in central London.
Judging the contestants will be serial social entrepreneur Karen Darby, marketing expert and star of Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire Carl Hopkins, and MyVoucherCodes.co.uk founder Mark Pearson who also appeared on the Channel 4 show.
Judge, Carl Hopkins from The Pitch 2011 explains why SnoozeShade was selected, 'On reading the submission from SnoozeShade you could not fail to be impressed by the effort, commitment and results Cara has achieved so far. The business has shown great promise since its inception less than 18 months ago. I am looking forward to hearing from its founder, Cara, about its current achievements and its future plans.'
Judge, Mark Pearson, comments on why Jon's entry was chosen, "The Pourty product stood out from the crowd as a simple idea to a common problem, executed well and gaining traction already, I believe the product will scale well into a very successful and profitable business, in such a diverse competition I personally scored the company highly.'
Cara says, "It's been a rollercoaster year - last March I launched SnoozeShade Original and this has now grown into a range of five products that help babies sleep on-the-go. SnoozeShade Original is on sale in Mothercare, John Lewis, Tesco, Boots and many more UK retailers and is distributed in over ten countries including the US, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Germany. It will be a bit strange to go up against Jon and Pourty as we regularly collaborate together on various business activities. I just hope one of us wins as it will be great awareness for innovation in the nursery industry. "
Jon adds, "I am delighted to have got down to the last 6 out of 160. The Pourty potty's simple but highly effective design leaves people amazed that nobody had thought of a pouring potty before. The Pourty has already been snapped up by Mothercare, Tesco and Boots in the UK and is distributed in 6 countries worldwide. The Pitch provides a great opportunity to raise your profile and grow the business. Having often worked together with Cara and SnoozeShade, it will be interesting to be pitched against each other for once, especially as I have seen how well SnoozeShade is doing - still it all adds some spice to the competition! Good luck Cara!"
For more information about The Pitch 2011, please visit www.thepitch2011.com
For more information about SnoozeShade, please visit www.snoozeshade.com or contact Cara Sayer at cara@snoozeshade.com
For more information about Pourty, please visit www.pourty.com or contact Jon Rathbone at jrathbone@pourty.com
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