finance specific aspects of business development and growth. NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) has generously created a 150,000 fund to enable this select group of UK Global Entrepreneurs to seek funding that enables them to accelerate the growth of their businesses. The nine graduate entrepreneurs (three individuals and two teams of two) presented the business ideas they're working on to experts in innovation, business, finance, technology and communications at the final stage of a demanding competition. They first had to submit detailed business plans justifying why the money is needed and providing strategic, financial and operational information and forecasts. Each individual and at least one member of each team has completed the NCGE's prestigious year-long international programme. The scheme -- originally known as the NCGE-Kauffman Entrepreneurship Fellowships and now called Flying Start Global Entrepreneurs -- is now in its third year. It is run in association with America's renowned Kauffman Foundation, where participants spend six months learning from world experts in entrepreneurship and visiting some of America's most active entrepreneurial universities and their enterprising environments including Harvard and MIT, and Stanford, near Silicon Valley. The 2008-2009 group flew to Kansas City, Missouri, where the Kauffman Foundation is based, two weeks ago. They are the first cohort to benefit from specialised training given by NESTA during their first six months in the UK. The Flying Start Global Entrepreneurs scheme chooses as its participants graduates in science, technology, engineering and maths recommended by their English universities as