We can exclusively reveal that Mr Alan O’Brain from Chiswick has been shortlisted to the last 10 entrants hoping to win £100,000 in the One Minute Pitch competition run by mortgage company The One account and The Sunday Times.

The competition invited entrants to pitch, in one minute or 100 words, a life-changing idea that they would pursue if they had the financial freedom to follow their dream.

Thousands of entries were received from across the UK and covered three different categories: new business venture, self improvement or social responsibility.

Mr O’Brain’s business idea is to develop a service through one phone number which would be the first and only national cab company in the whole of the UK. This caught the attention of a judging panel which included Martha Lane Fox (founder of Lastminute.com), Peter Jones (from TV's Dragons' Den) and Jayne-Anne Gadhia (MD, The One account).

The judges now have the job of selecting 1 finalist from the 10 who pitch to them in a live final on 5 September and the winner is due to be announced on 11 September.

 

September 1, 2005