Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes and rugby star Brian O'Driscoll are teaming up to judge a new HSBC competition offering three small UK businesses the chance to win their own celebrity ambassador for a day.
Dame Kelly, who won gold in the 800m and 1500m at the 2004 Athens Olympics, said her post-athletics career in public speaking was never in her “psyche”. She told the Press Association: “I’ve been a public global speaker for 20 years. Way before that, did I ever think I’d be standing in front of 2,000 business people… no, it wouldn’t have even come into my psyche but now it’s an everyday occurrence.”
The former athlete, who also ran a coffee shop in her home village of Hildenborough, Kent, said her own business experience helps her sympathise with the challenges small firms face. “The same as now doing a campaign for small businesses – what credibility have I got? But then I think, hold on a minute, I did have my own project. I was into construction and I did run my own business,” she added.
The competition, which opened on Tuesday, is free to enter and open to all UK small businesses, regardless of whether they bank with HSBC. Entries close at midnight on January 5, with winners announced from January 19. Each winner will have their business story featured in a promotional film co-starring Dame Kelly and O'Driscoll.
Dame Kelly said she is looking for “heart” from entrants but added that “you also have to have quite a good head on you when you’re thinking ahead of how that business is going to thrive”. The judging panel, which also includes HSBC UK’s head of business banking, will assess entries based on compelling story, clear purpose, and potential for the prize to have a meaningful impact on future growth.
HSBC UK said the competition is part of a campaign highlighting barriers entrepreneurs face in growing their business profile. A bank survey of 500 small and medium-sized business leaders found that 55% rely on word of mouth and repeat customers, while 38% said they lack time or resources to reach new customers.
