Advantage will offer members a chance to win £10,000 worth of business support and advice in a Dragons’ Den-style competition due to launch this month.
Leisure director Julia Lo Bue-Said announced the competition at the Advantage conference in Malaga on Thursday, saying: “Advantage will offer £5,000-worth of expertise and advise on implementing a business plan.”
Accountancy firm Ellman Wall will add £2,000-worth of coaching and mentoring, with The Travel Trade Consultancy and Lingua Communications adding further business support and coaching to the value of £3,000.
The competition will be open to all members, leisure and corporate, with entrants invited to submit an outline business plan.
Shortlisted contestants will then appear before a panel of judges. Full details have yet to be finalised but should be announced in the next fortnight.
Lo Bue-Said hopes to have the shortlist of potential winners drawn up by August and a winner by the autumn.
She said: “We want to instil more of a business ethic and demonstrate the value of business expertise.”
The winner will be invited to next year’s Advantage conference to review the success of their business plan.
Elman Wall managing director Jonathan Wall said: “We will offer one-to-one coaching on how to devise a business plan and how to implement that plan.
“So many agents have no idea about a business plan. We will ask ‘Where are you?’, ‘Where do you want to be?’ and ‘How are you going to get there?’.”