EIGHT Huddersfield area companies have been shortlisted for the regional finals of a campaign to back promising businesses.

The companies were today making their case for free mentoring from business experts and a free advertising campaign in the Examiner as part of the Local Business Accelerators campaign.

They were also bidding for regional honours and the chance of progressing to the national stages of the competition which will see the overall LBA winner receive mentoring support from Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden, who is the campaign’s national ambassador.

The eight are:

Fit4Force, based at Liversedge;

Go-Go Gaggia, of Slaithwaite;

Hi-Spec Concrete Ltd, of Lockwood;

Kindmind, of Golcar;

Oakwood Doors and Spray Finishes, of Oakes;

That Creative, based at Firth Street, Huddersfield;

Wokilicious, of Queensgate, Huddersfield; and

Hanson Opticians, of Mirfield.

Representatives of the firms made their pitches to a panel comprising Prof Bob Cryan, vice-chancellor of Huddersfield University; Jeremy Garside, managing partner of law firm Chadwick Lawrence; and the Examiner’s commercial director Paul O’Halloran, editor Roy Wright, field sales manager Diane Briggs and business correspondent Henryk Zientek.

Three companies will be chosen to receive expert mentoring from Prof Cryan, Mr Garside and Mr O’Halloran.

The Examiner is one of hundreds of newspapers across the country taking part in the Local Business Accelerators campaign, which aims to deliver a £15m boost to promising businesses across the UK.

The campaign invites businesses aged between one and five years to compete for the chance to win a free ad campaign in their local paper plus mentoring support from local business leaders.

The most promising businesses from around the UK will go forward to the national stage of the competition to win a cash prize of £10,000, a year’s mentoring from Deborah and a local advertising campaign devised by a top London creative agency.

Local Business Accelerators has the backing of Prime Minister David Cameron and the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King.