What could a cash investment of up to £50,000 do for your business?
Help you set up a website? Allow you to buy new equipment? Employ staff?

Here’s an exciting way for university student and graduate businesses owners to secure much needed finance, as well as business mentoring and publicity for their business.

Lloyds TSB supported by the National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) have launched the Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards which aim to recognise the talent emerging from our universities by awarding a £50,000 cash investment to a winning business or enterprise.

The Lloyds TSB Enterprise Awards is open to university student and graduate business owners from across England, Scotland and Wales, where initial heat winners of the Best Enterprise and Best Start-up each have the opportunity of being awarded a £5,000 cash investment and £1,000 cash investment respectively, business mentoring, plus networking and publicity opportunities.

Winners of the initial heats will then pitch their ideas to a panel of judges, including Kamal Ahmed, Business Editor of the Sunday Telegraph, for the chance to win a £50,000 cash investment for Best Enterprise and £10,000 cash investment for Best Start-up. Both winners will also receive a two year mentoring programme to help take their business through to the next phase of growth.

So what would you do with £50,000?

We’ve asked some entrepreneurs what they’d do…

Entrepreneur and business author, Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation said “Wow! £50,000 is a lot of money. I’d be very careful about how this money is spent. Even though it may not feel so at the time, one of the best things about starting a business with £50 (as opposed to £50,000) is that the lack of money makes you ‘hungry’, innovative and nimble. Without money everything is pared back to the basics; you have to come up with a great product/service, get known and make sales. To achieve this on a tight budget fires the imagination and has resulted in some of the greatest marketing efforts I’ve ever witnessed

£50,000 can give your business a real head start. But you have to stay ‘hungry’ and avoid complacency’’

Lara Morgan, who sold a 99% share of her international business, Pacific Direct, in 2008 for £20 million, thinks having such a sum of cash in the early stages of your business is a luxury. She says, “I started my business with a small amount of money, much less than £50,000 and therefore I guess I would use it to manage cash flow to maximise profitability – the £50,000 shouldn’t be squandered.”

Suleman Sacranie, a serial entrepreneur, who pitched to Dragon’s Den at the tender age of 17 and has secured Venture Capitalist funding for his latest venture, 99pWholesaler, says, “Although £50,000 sounds like a lot of money, in the context of business, it is not a lot really. But it is a luxury that allows you to get your business model into the market place and off the ground.”

Mike Bandar is former President of Aston Entrepreneurs and a serial entrepreneur, who owns a promotions company, a paintball company, a nutritional information company, and is Head of New Business at LONDON Advertising. He says, “The best way to spend £50,000 within a business is to truly understand the needs. Maintain a holistic view and ensure all expenditure necessary for the business to survive have been looked after, before growth investments are made.”

Could a £50,000 cash investment make a difference to your business?

Tell us what you would do with the cash investment on

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