Sparks are flying in Gorbals and going global.
The Entrepreneurial Spark programme to nurture business developers from around the world is based in the splendid setting of Baron Haughey’s Caledonia House headquarters in Lawmoor Street.
An initiative of the UK Trade and Investment department, the world wide competition to search for the best entrepreneurial sparks is called Sirius – reflecting the brightest star in the sky.
Winners receive around £12,000 each for the 12 months they are given to develop their projects in the UK. They are also supported with business accelerator programmes, mentors and other practical assistance to set up and launch their enterprise.
This is in sharp contrast to independent entrepreneurs coming to the UK under their own steam. From November 2014 they require to have a bank balance of £2 million before being allowed to reside here to develop their business. Before then the figure was £1 million.
Paola Cuneo, Campaign Director of the Sirius Programme on a recent visit to the Glasgow Entrepreneurial Spark base, told the LOCAL NEWS: ‘We had 2000 applications from 93 countries in the launch programme. Sirius is really the United Nations of start-ups.’
During a three day showcase festival for entrepreneurs in Manchester in 2013, a Mexican psychologist with a bright idea for a children’s fun but educational electronic game, met Paola. ‘The game was for visually impaired children and it won the competition at that event. I met Pedro Bori, the man behind it,’ said Paola. ‘I was delighted when he later won our Sirius competition. His is now one of six teams based in Gorbals.’
Pedro Bori from Mexico
Another two teams are in Edinburgh and a total of 200 people are in 67 teams scattered across the UK. Next year Kilmarnock in Ayrshire will host some incoming teams in the next wave of Sirius winners.
‘The idea is that they will feed the UK market and have potential global markets. Having launched in the UK, it is highly likely they will remain here and make this their headquarters,’ said Paola.
Scottish based Sirius Sparks will finish their one year business start-up programmes in the spring of 2015.
In a candid interview in his Gorbals Sparks base, Mexican Psychologist Pedro Bori said: ‘The idea started when I noticed how children were using electronic toys. I wondered what kind of fun toy could be used to help visually impaired children with their cognitive development and memory skills and re-action rates.’
His university – Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo – is the oldest, largest and most respected research institute in east-central Mexico. So he and colleagues worked on the idea and won first place from 470 ideas in Santander Awards for Enterprise and Science Innovation in Mexico in 2011-2012. The prize money enabled them to develop a prototype for their game called Smash-a-Ball.
Taking a great leap of faith and raising the enormous cost of travelling to the UK, Pedro and co-founder Nadia Guevara attended the Manchester entrepreneurial festival where the Sirius Programme was launched. He said: ‘When we heard about Sirius we wanted to win that.’ And the idea did win!
The result is that Sirius Smash-a-Ball was incorporated in the UK in May 2014.
Now the team is hard at work in Gorbals finalising the game and preparing for the test stage and clinical trials. ‘We can’t ask more than this,’ said Pedro. ‘We are on a really exciting journey with Sirius. We plan to have the first product on the market next year.’
The range of games is expected to appeal to children with a wide spectrum of impairment including autism.
Another of the Gorbals Sparks teams is developing an on-line version of a time bank.
Murilo Mafra and Ana Fernandes from Brazil
From Brazil, Ana Fernandes, Murilo Mafra and Lorrana Scarponi had developed 30,000 activities from 60,000 users who exchanged their skills for virtual time which is ‘banked’ to buy skills they needed without money being exchanged. They were surprised to find the time bank idea already working, on a small local scale, here. Said Ana: ‘Just think what this can do where there is poverty.’
But in order to make such an entrepreneurial idea work to generate income, they have extended it considerably so that corporate bodies can offer this service to employees. Said Murilo: ‘co-workers can help each other grow and this can be integrated into social media networks.’
They now have the potential to handle 1 million users. Called Bliive – the company name is rooted in the Latin word meaning to trust.
Undeclared attraction to a girl at his school got Sebastian Maraloiu launched on his idea of a teen crush app in his adult years. From Romania, he said he was too shy and lacking in confidence at high school to approach the girl at that time. Years later he discovered on meeting her, that she had felt the same way about him. But by then each had moved on! ‘Technology now can help teenagers with a crush on someone,’ he explained. He is developing the app which will allow a signal to be sent and where there is mutual attraction, the two people can connect. But where it isn’t reciprocated, the sender’s identity is not revealed.
Sebastian Maraloiu from Romania.
He said: ‘It is a kind of flirting game and it is growing at the rate of 20% a week.’
These are only a few of the Entrepreneurial Spark ideas being developed in Gorbals right now. The Glasgow district has always had a big reputation… now with Sirius, it is positively sparkling!