Small and medium business

 

Search for The Ultimate Business Icon

Introduction

BT Business is encouraging small business owners across Britain to nominate their icons. The UK has a wealth of famous entrepreneurial talent and BT Business want to find out who are the most inspiring.

     

Free prize draw details

To enter select an entrepreneur from your region that has been inspirational. By voting you’ll have the opportunity to win £500 of Dabs.com vouchers, which you can put towards useful equipment for your office, or an electronic treat for your entertainment. You can also win BT Total Business Broadband Option 1 and a BT Tradespace contact account, both free for a year, to help grow your empire and follow in the footsteps of your icon.

The closing date for entries is 2.11.07, after which the winning icon will be announced, so check back to see if your favourite was top of the list.

BT Business can take care of all your IT and communications requirements, freeing you to focus on what you do best in business. With BT Business Total Broadband you’ll enjoy super-fast download speeds of up to 8MB. Other benefits include 10GB of monthly usage allowance, a built-in firewall and a free additional VoIP line.1

www.bttradespace.com is an online community that brings small businesses and individual sellers together with potential customers and partners to do business. The service is free2 to join, allows businesses to quickly and easily create and post content on the web, and link to complementary businesses.

1. Requires BT Business telephone line. Conditions apply. See http://www.btbroadbandoffice.com/broadband for full details.
2. Standard service only. Premium service available at £15 (+VAT) per month. Go to www.bttradespace.com for full details.

Entering

To enter the competition, please complete the form below.




South East

Sir Alan Sugar, London born owner of Amstrad computer manufacturers, who was chairman of Tottenham Hotspur FC and is now the face of the BBC’s Apprentice series
Peter Jones, businessman from Berkshire with interests in mobile communications, media and property who enhanced his profile by being one of the Dragon’s Den judges and now heads up ITV1’s Tycoon series
Sir Philip Green, London born multi millionaire who owns the Arcadia group, which includes Top Shop and Marks & Spencer
Simon Jordan, after being released by Chelsea FC as a schoolboy, he teamed up with friend Andrew Biggs to start up Pocket Phone Shop a mobile phone retail company. After selling to One2One in 2000, he became chairman of Crystal Palace FC
Sir Richard Branson, Surrey born entrepreneur who famously founded Virgin Records in 1971 from a public telephone box

South West

Michael Eavis, a dairy farmer from Somerset who became famous after founding the Glastonbury music festival in 1970, which he still runs today, with 2007 being the biggest to date
Ben Way, a young entrepreneur from Exeter who became one of the countries youngest millionaires, when as a teenager he was part of the Dot.com boom
Tom Sobey, created the Origin Coffee Ltd, a fairtrade seller of coffee beans and café chain, based in Cornwall
Ralph Allen, after leaving Cornwall he went to work for the Post Office in Bath. He then made his fortune by renovating the postal service in the UK, saving the Post Office a fortune in the process
Andrew Brownsword, trained as a chef in Bath, before making millions by creating the Forever Friends brand of greeting cards

North East

Sir John Hall, Newcastle born property developer who fulfilled a lifetime ambition by becoming chairman of Newcastle United FC, before retiring from the role
Thomas Spencer, co-founded Marks & Spencer with Michael Marks in 1894 after working as a cashier in his home county of Yorkshire
Steve Gibson, Middlesbrough born telecommunications millionaire who is now chairman of his hometown football club
Gladstone Adams, owned two photography studios in his native Newcastle before inventing the windscreen wiper after a long car journey to London
Jim Porter, developed Newcastle Brown Ale in 1927 after three years perfecting it. By the mid 1930’s the bitter was one of the best loved drinks in the North East

North West

Bill Kenwright, a former actor and now prominent theatre producer in London’s West End. He has used his wealth to become chairman of his boyhood team, Everton FC, from his native Liverpool
Sir Jack Walker, a legendary industrialist, who made a fortune in the steel industry in his hometown of Blackburn, before leading the football team as chairman to the league title
Sir John Moores, a businessman and philanthropist from Salford who formed the Littlewoods gambling empire in the 1930s.
Henry Boddington, joined the Strangeways Brewery in 1832, before becoming the sole owner of the company that brewed the famous Manchester bitter
Dave Whelan, after playing football for Blackburn Rovers, he acquired a fishing and sports store in Wigan before renaming it JJB Sports. Now having retired from the company, he owns the football and rugby teams in the town

Midlands

John Cadbury, born in Edgebaston, he was the founder of Cadburys in 1824, who initially made money from vending tea and coffee before becoming famous for selling chocolate
Sir Jack Hayward, a property developer from Wolverhampton who became chairman of the town’s football club
Rosemary Conley, from Leicestershire, she is the founder and president of one of the top three weight loss organisations in the UK
Jesse Boot, turned Boots The Chemist which had been founded by his father John, into a successful national retailer, before selling to American investors in 1920
Henry Walker, after meat rationing during World War Two, he turned his butchers shop in Leicester into a place which sold potato chips, which became Walkers Crisps

Scotland

Gordon Ramsay, Johnstone born successful chef with a string of international restaurants, books and a TV series
Duncan Bannatyne, raised in the town of Clydebank and started his business empire from an Ice Cream van
Sir Tom Hunter, graduated from Business School of the University of Strathclyde, and sold trainers from the back of a van before founding the Sports Division chain, which was then purchased by JJB Sports
Michelle Mone, Glasgow born former model who founded the Ultimo lingerie brand in the 1990’s before launching it at Selfridges department store
David Murray, by the age of 23 formed Murray International Metals Limited, which was to become a leading distributor of structural steel. He is also the executive chairman of Glasgow Rangers FC

Wales

Sir Terry Matthews, raised in the town of Newport and through sales of companies such as Mitel, he became Wales’ first billionaire
Laura Ashley, having moved to London from Wales after World War Two, she launched a chain of successful home furnishing stores
Malcolm Walker, after being fired from a Woolworths store in Wrexham, he went on to co-found the Iceland supermarket chain with Peter Hinchcliffe
Charles Rolls, co-founder of the Rolls Royce car manufacturing firm alongside Frederick Henry Royce, whose family home was in Monmouth
Julien MacDonald, Merthyr Tydfil born successful fashion designer who currently acts as chief designer for Givenchy. He has also designed ranges for Debenhams and British Airways



Terms and conditions

  1. The prize draw is open to UK residents aged 18 or over, other than employees of BT, its agencies or their families.
  2. The closing date for the competition is 2/11/07
  3. The Winner will be the first entry drawn at random by BT on 5/11/07, and will be notified by telephone on or before the 9/11/07.
  4. No purchase is necessary.
  5. The prize will include £500 of dabs.com vouchers, a BT Tradespace account and BT Total Business Broadband Option 1 for 12 months subject to availability and survey. BT line required. If the winner does not live in a BT Broadband-enabled area they may nominate a family member or friend to receive the 12 month subscription to BT Total Business Broadband, provided they inform BT by 30th November 2007
  6. Entries must be made via the entry form which can be completed via www.bt.com/businessicons before 2/11/07
  7. The winner will be instructed how to setup a Dabs.com account by a BT representative on or before the 12/11/07
  8. Dabs.com vouchers need to be used for one purchase and within a year of issue. Vouchers may only be used by customers eligible under the terms of this prize draw. Vouchers can only be used once and only one voucher per transaction. Vouchers may only be redeemed against products sold on www.dabs.com and excludes BT services and products sold through www.bt.com/shop, other online BT shops including BT People Store, other retailers and distribution channels and phone orders. Vouchers can be used up to the date set out in the terms of the offer. Minimum spend may be subject to the offer – otherwise minimum spend is the value of the voucher. The voucher is not transferable or assignable. Refunds apply to the amount of money actually spent – no cash refunds on discounts. Vouchers are not redeemable against delivery charges.
  9. BT’s decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
  10. No cash alternative will be available for the prizes.
  11. The Promoter reserves the right to alter, amend or foreclose this prize draw without prior notice in the event that unforeseen circumstances make this unavoidable.
  12. The winner’s details may be obtained by sending a SAE to the Promoter marked 'BT Business Icons Competition, within 28 days of the closing date.
  13. The Promoter is British Telecommunications plc, 81 Newgate Street, London, EC1A 7AJ.