Six down and one to go: the selection of the northeast region shortlist for the £35m Sunday Times Bank of Scotland Corporate Entrepreneur Challenge has taken the quest for the country’s most dynamic entrepreneur a step closer to its goal.

The challenge divided the country into seven regions, and five of these have already produced winners. Their prizes: up to £5m of funding free of interest and fees to invest in their businesses. When the winner is selected from the five northeast finalists at an event in York on Tuesday that will leave just one more heat - northwest England and North Wales - before the grand final on December 3, to chooseoneofthesev-en regional winners to be 2008’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

On the panel of northeast region judges is David Jackson, chairman and chief executive of specialist engineering services business Redhall Group. He will be looking for entrepreneurs who can adjust their thinking in the current economic climate. “Some will plough on regardless during difficult times when it might be better to concentrate more on getting the balance sheet right,” he says. “£5m will be a lot of money so I will also be looking for a sound business case for how they will spend it – and whether the management’s judgment is realistic.”

Fellow judge Geoff Taylor, practice senior partner at accountancy firm Deloitte, is impressed with the diverse range of businesses that entered the challenge in the northeast. He says this is testament to the broad range of skills across the area.

Northeast regional finalists

Fusion Group | Torque Tension Systems | Corporate Document Services | Kelkay | Lanes Group

“With much of the local economy, particularly in Yorkshire, dominated by financial services it is encouraging to see how entrepreneurs are shining in a range of sectors. I will want to know how they have overcome hurdles and to see a strategic long-term vision,” he says.

“Lots of entrepreneurs create a business where they are successful and do very nicely, thank you. I want to reward those that are thinking how they will get from a £5m business to £10m or from £15m to £20m.”

Other judges for the region are James Farrar and Tommy Young, head of marketing and head of commercial banking for England and Wales respectively at Bank of Scotland Corporate. The bank’s head of commercial business for the northeast, Tim Pryor, Lorna Moran, founder of Northern Recruitment Group, and The Sunday Times business editor John Waples are also on the panel.

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