THE BCMPA, the Association for Contract Manufacturing, Packing, Fulfilment and Logistics, is inviting entrepreneurs to pitch their new product ideas in a Dragon’s Den-style competition.
A cash prize and a consultancy to help take products to market is up for grabs during the initiative, which launches at this week’s London Packaging Week.
Pitch the Co-Packers targets start-ups and early-stage brands in markets such as food and drink, personal care and beauty, and household products.
The format will see chosen finalists invited to pitch to judges at The Contract Pack and Fulfilment Show, co-located with Packaging Innovations and Empack at the NEC Birmingham in February. The ‘Dragons’ scrutinising each entry include IPS CEO Andrew Dawson and Mike Williams co-founder of Flake Bake, winner of Aldi’s Next Big Thing and Matt Hopkins founder of Indie, supporting SME brands with their product journey. The shortlist of finalists will be revealed in early January.
“Collaboration with third party manufacturers, packers and logistics providers can unlock a successful product launch and help with critical production scale-up,” said Emma Verkaik, CEO of the BCMPA. “Pitch the Co-Packers will demonstrate how vital these partnerships are while also offering a platform to the next generation of innovative and entrepreneurial talent across a wide range of markets.”
Entries are invited from SMEs with a turnover of under £100,000 with exciting, scalable product concepts. They need to be on the lookout for co-packing, manufacturing or fulfilment support as well as facing packaging or production challenges.
The BCMPA stand at London Packaging Week will encourage interested parties to sign up to enter.
