The inventor of games and puzzles for people in long-term care won Best New Business at the Pitch 2010.
Founder of Active Minds Ben Atkinson-Willes, who won the south-east heat, beat five other grand finalists to claim a prize package worth £50,000.
Atkinson-Willes, from Andover in Hampshire, said that during his grandfather’s illness, he was dismayed to find that there was nothing on the market specifically designed for care patients, meaning they often ended up struggling to complete children’s puzzles or colouring books.
“It’s been amazing,” he says about winning the award. “The build up was almost too much, but I’m really happy to be the winner. I’ve learned a lot about myself and my business. It’s been fantastic.”
The Pitch 2010 grand final, organised by SME advice website BusinessZone.co.uk, in association with leading marketing solutions business, Yell, and sponsored by Sage, was held at the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall, central London as part of a day conference which saw Lord Young deliver his first public address since becoming ‘Enterprise Tsar’ (he resigned a few days later, of course, after claiming Britons had "never had it so good").
We had the crème de la crème of UK entrepreneurial talent out there and it made it really tough to choose between them
Karen Darby, Simply Switch founder and panel judge
The judging panel, which included investment guru and Dragons’ Den Online judge Julie Meyer, winner of the first series of the Apprentice Tim Campbell, Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, founder of the Black Farmer food range and serial entrepreneur and founder of Simply Switch, Karen Darby.
Karen Darby says: “We had the crème de la crème of UK entrepreneurial talent out there and it made it really tough to choose between them.”
Tim Campbell adds: “All the pitchers showed incredible passion for what they were trying to achieve. The Pitch shows how it is at the sharp end of business for people who are looking for support to take their ideas forward.”
