Well, I *Think* I Used To Have A Life....

"perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things"

- Robert Louis Stevenson

And The Winners Are....Not Us!!

Well, alas, this time it wasn't to be. The Winners are Scratchface and in all fairness they deserved it. It was a close call and all of us put in a really strong bid for our respective companies but Scratchface had a watertight presentation and, quite simply, an excellent business Idea that is already raking in the customers. They were even able to demonstrate it on stage, I will post links to their site when I get back to the office because you really should check them out!
Meanwhile thanks for sticking with us and following my updates and Congratulations to Luke Walsh and Luke Jefferson that really is £20,000 well deserved!
 
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Sent via BlackBerry

HSBC Comp: A Day in the Life! *

Information continually updated throughout the day today. Newest post on top!

21:30-Waiting...
 
Maybe my competitive streak has been mollified by the champagne reception but at this moment in time I really can say in all honesty that no matter who ends the evening grasping on to a novelty cheque this has been yet another amazing experience (like San Francisco, India or the Dragons' Den) that I would not have had if it weren't for Red Button and all of the support we've been given for our Entrepreneurial Endeavours (or should that simply be abject insanity? I feel there is little difference some days). Starting up in business is consistently the hardest thing I have ever had to do and I'd be lying if I said there weren't days I just want to throw in the towel and get a job in sales but I ...
wow, *puts down the glass of champagne and straightens her dress* enough of that - I have Networking to attend to!


18:23-Not Long Now!

Well we will be pitching first of five, not sure if that is a blessing or a curse but to be honest I am at the BAFTA theatre, red carpet and all having the absolute best time! It is almost a shame I have to do any work!

04:59-On Our Way!
 
Short on time and short on sleep we may be but we're certainly not short on enthusiasm! We've just finished making ourselves look presentable and in a few minutes we'll be heading over to the BAFTA theatre to get acquainted with the Panel (well, those on the panel we haven't yet met!) safe to say I am pretty excited at the prospect!

- Amanda
 

15:36-More Haste Less Speed!

So it is going to be a close call! Our train will get into Kings Cross in just a few minutes but we're leaving the *hotel* for the theatre at 4:45! Good job I am well versed in the art of the quick change (years of competitive dance pay off in the strangest ways!) Oh well, maybe the haste will keep the nerves at bay though I could really do with a nap in a comfy 5* hotel bed right now!
-Amanda

13:24-Who Will we be Sharing the Stage With?

The members of the panel that will be questioning us onstage are:
Lisa Buckingham, Editor, Financial Mail on Sunday, Dragons' Den Entrepreneur Peter Jones, Designer Wayne Hemingway, William Kendall, former CEO Green & Blacks and New Covent Garden Soup Company and the session will be chaired by GMTV presenter, Jenni Falconer.
Seems like a nicely diverse bunch and some good contacts there!
-Amanda


11:47-Amanda Gets Distracted by her Horoscope

"Events push you into the public eye today no matter how much you resist. Nevertheless, you still may withhold a vital piece of information, believing this could increase your power. Actually, it may just complicate matters. Controlling the flow of data is not to your advantage; it is better to get everything out into the open and then let destiny take you where it will."
- Amanda


09:50-National Express to London Kings Cross

Rainy mid-week mornings are the entire city's excuse to take a taxi. The traffic was murder and we didn't make the fast train we'd originally planned to travel on, we caught the next train with a fraction of a second to spare but the 10 mins of traffic jam in Glasgow cost us almost 2 hours in terms of our arrival time in London! It's not a brilliant start by anyone's account but hopefully not representative of the day as a whole!
- Amanda

* Today James and I will be doing our best to test technology by posting updates as regularly as possible throughout the day, please feel free to strike up a dialogue by posting a comment and keep refreshing the page to follow our progress at the HSBC Unipreneurs Final.

HSBC Unipreneurs Final Approaches Fast !

This Wednesday, April 23rd, sees the final of the government-backed Unipreneur Awards, sponsored by HSBC Bank and presented in association with the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship.

James and I will be heading down to London for the gala evening at the swanky BAFTA theatre alongside the four other finalists. On the night we will be pitching the virtues of Red Button Design, quizzed live on-stage by a panel of experts, subjected to an audience vote and featured in a short film. Our fellow finalists can be seen *here* and assuming we all survive the experience one of us will walk away with the £20,000 prize the very same night.

So will we be drinking ourselves into a congratulatory champagne-induced stupor or a commiserative vodka-shot puddle on the pavement? Ladies and Gentlemen, please cast your votes now. Be sure to check back Wednesday night to see if you were right because thanks to blogging on the Blackberry you know the results will be here first!

Watch the Look East Feature

Well, James and I are very pleased with this little video, so much so that we'd like to share it with you so if you have a spare 3 minutes please do take a look and as always, you may comment on this blog entry using the links below!

:: Look East Link No Longer Active ::

Amanda and James Look East

Just to report, for those of you resident in our childhood town of Cambridge, that Red Button Design will be having a rather nifty profile done of us this evening on that infamous of broadcasting delights "Look East" Sadly we are unable to travel down to meet the presenters in person but through the wonders of modern technology we'll be chatting with them via our home studio in Glasgow's Pacific Quay.

So if you are in their broadcast area do tune in to this evening's "Look East", for those of you resident elsewhere I will endeavour to get a copy to upload for your viewing delight :o)

Red Button Join World Health Organisation's "Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage Network"

Red Button Design have been accepted into the World Health Organisation's "Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage (HWTS) Network"

The Network will strive to empower people without access to improved water sources, plus those with improved but unsafe sources, to take charge of their own drinking water safety by working with communities to implement effective, affordable and sustainable HWTS interventions.

The WHO produced the following statement:

"Studies have shown that improving the microbiological quality of household water by on-site or point-of-use treatment and safe storage in improved vessels reduces diarrheal and other waterborne diseases in communities and households of developing as well as developed countries. The extent to which improving drinking water quality at the household level reduces diarrheal disease probably depends on a variety of technology-related as well as site-specific environmental and demographic factors that require further investigation, characterization and analyses. Reductions in household diarrheal diseases of 6-90% have been observed, depending on the technology and the exposed population and local conditions.

The most promising and accessible of the technologies for household water treatment are filtration with ceramic filters, chlorination with storage in an improved vessel, solar disinfection in clear bottles by the combined action of UV radiation and heat, thermal disinfection (pasteurization) in opaque vessels with sunlight from solar cookers or reflectors and combination systems employing chemical coagulation-flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and chlorination. All of these systems have been shown to dramatically improve the microbiological quality of water.

Further development, refinement, implementation, evaluation and comparison of household water treatment and safe storage technologies is both justified and encouraged."

Red Button Design look forward to being able to contribute to the Network beginning with a series of field trials in the Mewat region of India this summer.

HWTS Information Leaflet