Side Hustle of the Year 2018: Meet the finalists

Bowtees

Born from a life-long adoration of bow ties, Bowtees was started by Kayur Patel, Jessica Harris to create a new bow tie generation by combining urban-inspired t-shirts with a removable, magnetic bow tie. The start-up uses fine fabrics and distinctive on-trend prints, with designs for men, women and children. Having featured in GQ Magazine three times to date, the brand has clearly caught the eye of those in the know about fashion.

Learn more about Bowtees and cast your People’s Champion vote here

GoRoadie

Launched in January 2017, this Dundee-based start-up helps learner drivers choose and book lessons from local driving instructors filtered by location, manual/automatic and gender. It has already helped 500 learners find instructors in its home city and is now in the process of expanding to its second city, Glasgow. Unlike existing platforms, it allows users to review different instructor profiles and choose their own.

Learn more about GoRoadie and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Helen’s Domestic Goddess

Having left school at 18 with poor A-levels due to bullying, Helen Brown tried her hand at many different jobs including as a PA, and volunteering at the 2012 Olympics. It wasn’t until she admired the cleanliness of a pub she worked in that she decided to start a cleaning business. Three years later and Helen’s Domestic Goddess offers cleaning for regular domestic, one-off/spring cleans, carpet and oven cleans.

Learn more about Helen’s Domestic Goddess and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Mama Bamboo

Staring at the pile of brightly coloured, ugly plastic plates and cups she’d used to serve her children, Laura Crawford discovered very little in the way of affordable, sustainable alternatives. Mama Bamboo was born out of the search for a better option. Using sustainable bamboo, it provides high quality, practical, environmentally-friendly, gentle products for children with their comfort and health in mind.

Learn more about Mama Bamboo and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Lingo Online Ltd

Lingo Online is a language app which allows users to instantly chat to native speakers from across the world via live video calls in a language they’re learning. It uses a matchmaking algorithm which pairs users based on language skills and mutual interests. The app hopes to generate revenue by introducing live speech to text translation – to help learners understand how words and phrases are written whilst hearing them – and call recording.

Learn more about Lingo Online Ltd and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Mytoor Inventories

Founded by Hardeep Toor after he experienced first-hand the poor standards of property reports in the lettings market, Mytoor Inventories is an independent specialist property inventory company delivering services such as initial check-in reports, comparative interim checks, inventory reports, and check-outs. It covers all of London and the home counties and can accommodate bookings at short notice.

Learn more about Mytoor Inventories and cast your People’s Champion vote here

Blackpool Music Run

Blackpool Music Run is an event which incorporates music and fitness along different distances with the main feature of each event a 10K. The music is live and is provided predominantly by over 20 local acts and artists, giving upcoming talent the opportunity to showcase their talents on professional stages dotted along Blackpool Promenade. Over 1000 people were involved in the first event and the next is already planned for Sunday 16 June.

Learn more about Blackpool Music Run and cast your People’s Champion vote here

The Hidden Wardrobe

A pop-up shop selling clothes, jewellery and bags, The Hidden Wardrobe has done shopping experiences in local bars, post offices, restaurants, homes, shops, and hairdressers. Founded by Angela Sharples, the start-up makes a strong mark-up on clothing and has gained 2,000 followers on Facebook in less than four months. Sharples hopes to franchise The Hidden Wardrobe and is already booked up to December.

Learn more about The Hidden Wardrobe and cast your People’s Champion vote here