Alpha News
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Bank of Scotland press release
( 04 / October / 2007 )
RB Farquhar Manufacturing Ltd, the Aberdeenshire based pre-fabricated bath- and shower-room pod manufacturer, has won the Scottish Final of the inaugural Bank of Scotland Corporate £25m Entrepreneur Challenge. After presenting its case yesterday to a panel of judges, RB Farquhar Manufacturing was announced this afternoon as the winner, and will now compete with the four winners from the other UK regional finals for the title of Entrepreneur of the Year.
RB Farquhar Manufacturing fought off strong competition from four other Scottish companies to emerge victorious in the Challenge, being run in partnership with The Sunday Times. The business was rewarded for its drive, determination and entrepreneurial spirit, and will now receive up to £5m, interest free funding to help take it to the next level.
The Entrepreneur Challenge is being run across five areas of the UK, one of which is Scotland. The five regional winners – of which RB Farquhar is the first – will all be entitled to receive a funding package of up to £5m entirely free of interest and arrangement fees for a period of three years.
Joining senior Bank of Scotland Corporate figures on the judging panel were representatives from Deloitte, and two entrepreneurs who have built up their own businesses with stunning success: Akmal Khushi Managing Director of Jacobs & Turner - Trespass and Deirdre Romanes of Dunfermline Press. They were joined by John Waples, Business Editor of The Sunday Times.
RB Farquhar Manufacturing will now have another date in its sights – the UK final on Wednesday 12th December. Along with the winners from the four other regions, they will compete for the title of Entrepreneur of the Year, and for the chance to have Arcadia boss Sir Philip Green join them in their boardroom for four days of mentoring, completely free of charge.
Commenting, Michael Shand, Managing Director of RB Farquhar Manufacturing, said:
"I'm absolutely thrilled to have won the Scottish Final of the Bank of Scotland Corporate Entrepreneur Challenge. I hope that today's victory will mark an important milestone in the development and growth of RB Farquhar Manufacturing. To have fought off such strong competition from the four other finalists says a great deal about our determination to become a market leader within our industry.
"As from today, our focus is firmly on December 12th. We'll be pulling out all the stops to make sure that Sir Philip Green is sitting in the RB Farquhar boardroom in the not too distant future."
Presenting the award, Gary Gerrard, Head of Scotland, Bank of Scotland Corporate, said:
“Bank of Scotland Corporate is the bank for entrepreneurs – we’ve built our reputation on it. RB Farquhar is precisely the sort of organisation we like to do business with. They can take their business to new heights, and we'll be doing all we can to help them do it.
"I wish Michael Shand and RB Farquhar all the best as they go forward to the UK national final in December, and compete for the opportunity to have one of our country's most successful entrepreneurs, Sir Philip Green, mentoring them in their boardroom.”
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