The Birmingham Post has announced the seven local businesses, including a fast-growing recruitment firm and a supplier of water coolers, that have made the shortlist in the Local Business Accelerators competition.

The nationwide campaign, which was launched in October by regional and local newspapers across the country and backed by Prime Minister David Cameron and Dragons' Den star Deborah Meaden, will see 1,500 firms receive £15 million of free advertising to help boost their businesses in 2012.

Judges reported that entries in the West Midlands were of an extremely high standard, with enthusiastic local firms recognising the benefits that local advertising can bring.

The West Midlands businesses to have made the LBA shortlist are:

*Alexander Daniels

*Asiri Foods

*Benjamin Vaughan Tailoring

*Cafe Entices

*Filtered Water Coolers

*Science Capital

*Link Property Solutions

The firms will now pitch to a panel of experts from the business community as well as senior figures from BPM Media before three winners are selected by the judging panel.

As well as receiving top professional advice from our local business mentors, their prize also includes a substantial allocation of free advertising space in the pages of the Birmingham Post.

In addition, Deborah Meaden will also become a mentor to one overall business, picked from the hundreds of regional winners, providing invaluable business support throughout 2012 to drive their business forward.

Birmingham Post eEitor Alun Thorne said: “This really is a terrific competition so I am not surprised that we had such a strong response. On offer is a significant advertising campaign as well as a complete audit of the winners’ marketing, training needs and business connections and the opportunity to be mentored by Deborah Meaden. With all that in mind I expect the shortlisted companies to pull out all the stops when the pitch in January.”

The three winners will be reported in the pages of the Birmingham Post on January 12.

The judging panel is:

Richard Butler: Mr Butler joined the CBI as Regional Director West Midlands and Oxfordshire in March 2011. Within this role Mr Butler’s main responsibility is to represent the many business interests of CBI members by lobbying government to bring about changes in legislation which will assist business growth.

Prior to this he has a long career centred around international sales and marketing and has considerable experience of working with overseas owned companies from around the world.

Dr Steve Walker: Dr Walker has been chief executive of ART (Aston Reinvestment Trust) since launch in 1997. From 2000-2006 he was a member of the Small Business Investment Taskforce, advising the Government on all matters relating to finance for businesses and has become one of the leading UK practitioners in the Social Finance sector.

He has been since inception a member of the West Midlands Regional Finance Forum (Advantage West Midlands Regional Development Agency) and is a Director of Fair Finance Consortium Limited.

Jenny Stokes: Ms Stokes is assistant principal of external funding at Bournville College. She is responsible for developing and managing the college’s strategy for external funding. Jenny has over 20 years experience in the voluntary, private and education sectors. Jenny has extensive experience assisting the growth of small businesses particularly those targeting economic regeneration, including business planning, marketing and funding applications.

More recently, whilst working in the FE sector she has specialised in winning and managing European contracts for delivering training and skills for SMEs worth in excess of £10m. She is also a Trustee for Birmingham Mail Charity Trust which distributes small grants to community organisations.

Alun Thorne: Alun Thorne first started on the Birmingham Post as a reporter almost 12 years ago and has worked in a number of roles before being made Editor in January 2010. He has led the team that has established the newspaper in its weekly format and is currently developing a digital strategy to ensure the Post remains the leading brand for business, news and culture in the changing media landscape.

Tracy Colley: Ms Colley is the Advertising Director for the Birmingham Post and Mail. She is responsible for developing and managing BPM media’s commercial strategy and performance from a print, event and online perspective.

She has more than 20 years of experience in the media and marketing sector with a record of successfully building multi-media businesses and implementing business change. Ms Colley has extensive experience assisting the growth of businesses of all levels through marketing and promotional activities.