Are you the next Richard Branson or Alan Sugar?

The search is on to find Carmarthenshire’s next Richard Branson or Alan Sugar.
Budding entrepreneurs are being urged to enter this year’s Beacon Bursary competition, launched today at the Graig Campus of Coleg Sir Gar.
Open to further and higher education students studying or living in Carmarthenshire, winners of the competition are offered free office space within the Beacon Centre for Enterprise in Dafen, Llanelli, along with a cash prize of up to £3000 and mentoring support, so that they can develop their businesses.
The annual competition is delivered through Carmarthenshire County Council in conjunction with Coleg Sir Gâr and University of Wales Trinity Saint David and forms part of the council’s commitment to developing entrepreneurship within the county.
It provides people with an opportunity to access finance, office space and a wealth of support and experience which will provide the best opportunity for their businesses to flourish.
Last year’s winner was Martin Goddard of 360 Entertainment. His winning proposal was to set up an entertainment agency and management company dedicated to providing live music for weddings in Wales.
Carmarthenshire Council leader, Cllr Emlyn Dole said: “The vision for The Beacon is to act as a leading light in nurturing and training young people’s enterprise skills and to develop entrepreneur business talent to enter the private sector across Carmarthenshire and South West Wales. This competition not only offers someone the opportunity to win a fantastic business start-up but provides the vital support from a team of business mentors from both the private and public sector.
The closing date for expressions of interest is 31st March 2017. Contact bhale@carmarthenshire.gov.uk for further information.
Becky Pask, enterprise coordinator at Coleg Sir Gar, said: “Developing a more entrepreneurial culture is very important to the college, as is enabling partnerships within our local community, businesses and schools.
“The college staff have been blessed to work with such incredible people and the success of the Beacon Bursary is the result of everyone’s continued help and support. Meeting all the students, is incredible, they have fantastic ideas and the college wishes them all good luck.”