An entrepreneur who has reached the final stages of a national enterprise competition believes his idea to sell advertising space on coffee cups and food trays will help to reduce the 80% failure rate of UK business start-ups.
Glyndŵr University student George Lambrianides, 22, says he came up with the idea, Yummy Ads, in a bid to help new businesses to stay afloat during their early years, when the risk of failure is at its highest.
He will put Yummy Ads into action later this month when he competes in Middlesbrough in a regional final of Test Town, an enterprise challenge backed by the Carnegie UK Trust which aims to make town centres exciting and relevant.
George, who will compete against four others for the regional title, had to submit a 2-minute video pitch to judges for his initial entry.
He said: “More than 500 people entered the competition so I totally didn’t expect to reach the final stages.
“When I saw the competition I decided I wanted to do something to help people starting their own business in the UK. 85% of businesses fail within the first three years here so I thought that surely something can be done to help.
“Most traditional only allows exposure for 20 or 30 seconds at a time. The idea behind Yummy Ads is to expose people to a new brand for 2220 seconds, or 37 minutes, on average while someone is having a coffee or eating lunch off a fast food tray. By advertising in this way, companies can vastly increase audience reach and the length of time people see their brand.”
Originally from Cyprus, George is in the final year of an Electrical and electronic engineering degree and sees the Test Town competition as part of his wider business ambitions.
He recently joined the Wrexham Business Entrepreneurship Network, which launched at the Glyndŵr University Racecourse Stadium, and is now working under the mentorship of Paul Maddocks on a technology-based business idea.
Paul founded and grew Saltney-based Parkway Telecom as group managing director, before selling the business to Olive Communications two years ago.
“I’m really looking forward to the next challenge,” added George. “We get £500 in Middlesbrough to develop the business idea, build the brand and test it out on potential customers over seven days.”
Judith Alexander, manager of the Zone, Glyndŵr University’s centre for entrepreneurship activity, said: “We’re delighted to see George reach the final stages of Test Town and we wish him the best of luck for the rest of the competition.”
George will compete at Test Town Middlesbrough from 19-26 May. For more information visit http://www.testtown.org.uk/
