TWO local businesses, who have been highlighted by Dragons’ Den’s Theo Paphitis on Twitter, were delighted to meet the businessman and entrepreneur himself recently.
Every Sunday, Theo Paphitis runs a competition on Twitter under the hash tag #SBS, which stands for ‘Small Business Sunday’. His followers, who run small businesses, can tweet him for the chance of being one of the six who get retweeted to his 235,000 followers.SBS winners came from across the UK to Edgbaston Stadium to meet Theo Paphitis on Friday 30th March.Toby Brett, managing director of Banwell House Pub Company Ltd, which runs the Three Horseshoes in Chapmanslade, and Barry Slip, of LF Designs in Dilton Marsh, have both been retweeted on SBS and were delighted to attend the event.Toby said, “It was great to meet Theo; I am really grateful for the support and exposure he has given my business. Theo was as straight talking and as genuine as he appears on TV. I would urge any other small business to enter.”Barry Slip runs LF Designs in Dilton Marsh, producing personalised gifts and promotional items from photos, artwork, and logos. Barry says he found the event inspirational for small businesses like himself. “I thought it was amazing,” he said. “We had two hours of question and answer with the people that were there. Theo was down-to-earth and gave such genuine answers, he definitely understands where we all are. Everyone was just so uplifted from it, to hear from someone who everyone knows from the telly, and his hints and tips were brilliant. “I do a lot on twitter, and although the other winners were all strangers, we speak a lot on twitter, so it was amazing to put faces to names!”“An official logo was also launched during the event and I’m printing the merchandise for fellow #SBS winners. These are very popular at the moment and allowing the winners to remember their #SBS win!”The event was also held to launch the new website created for the #SBS winners: www.theopaphitissbs.com Both Banwell House and LF Designs are now featured on the website. • You can follow Toby on twitter @banwellhouse; follow Barry on @LF_Designs; or Theo @theopaphitis• #SBS is run every Sunday between 5.00pm and 7.30pm.
