An entrepreneur has gone from unemployment to winner of the Scottish regional leg of BusinessZone.co.uk's The Pitch competition.

 

Winner Craig Smith founded The Printed Bag Shop, specialist providers of environmentally friendly carrier bags for the likes of Boots and Virgin, in 2007 following redundancy and has since turned the idea into a business generating £250,000 turnover. His success has continued as he was named winner of the Scottish heat of The Pitch 2009 following an exciting and tightly contested event in Glasgow.

 

Judged by a panel of experts including Bright Purple managing director Nick Price and Jennifer Cheyne, an Edinburgh entrepreneur and star in Channel 4's The Secret Millionaire, Smith overcame close competition from five other small business founders to claim victory. 

 

Smith will now join winners of the other regional events in the final in November to compete for a business support package worth £50,000 and one-to-one mentoring from former Dragon's Den star Doug Richard.

 

Good luck Craig!