Take your sustainable business to the next level: win your own retail space at one of London’s Westfield centres | The future of sustainable entrepreneurship
The Westfield Grand Prix is an exciting challenge for entrepreneurs who place sustainability at the core of their output. Whether your business focuses on food, fashion, beauty, home, leisure or services, there are prizes on offer that could change its trajectory in a major way.
Over 15 years, this international competition has awarded 50 prizes. Now, it’s time to find the next champions. Acting as a springboard for forward-thinking businesses, the competition invites entrants to share their sustainable vision with an expert panel of judges from the retail and entrepreneurial space, who will choose their favourites alongside the public.
Prizes
Entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply now to be in with a chance of winning a free retail space in one of the two London Westfield centres for up to 12 months. Winners will also receive a contribution to pay for design and fit-out, together with personalised guidance and financial support from design and retail experts, as well as in-centre advertising created by retail media agency Westfield Rise.
If you’re crowned the People’s Choice by Westfield shoppers, you’ll automatically get recognition as a highlight of the 2024 Westfield Good Festival, an annual event that takes place in spring across 22 Westfield-branded centres in Europe. The festival aims to educate, support and inspire consumers to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, with workshops, secondhand markets, tastings, classes, talks and more. Winners will receive up to €20,000 towards supporting communication at the festival.
Previous winners
Past winners have been wide-ranging, with concepts featuring everything from cosmetics and fashion to food and coffee. Winners in 2021 included travel-fashion brand Tropicfeel, community-oriented coffee shop GoodNews and coconut-themed natural food vendor Coco House.
Past winners also included The Blond Cactus, a floral decorator that specialises in succulents and dried flowers, using recycled vintage objects to make unique floral creations; Unbottled, a French solid cosmetics brand, whose mission is to free your bathroom from plastic and your body from chemicals; and Deliroutine, an urban food market, with an emphasis on takeaway sales, offering the dishes of three restaurants in the same location.
How to enter
At stage one of the process, entrants are asked to submit an application form by 30 June 2023. Following this, the top entrants will advance to the selection process, where experts in retail and sustainability will put applications to the test and assess concepts, plans and sustainability strategies. At this point, shortlisted entrants will be invited to the final and entered into the People’s Choice award as well as the Westfield Grand Prix.
The final takes place in October 2023, when finalists will deliver a polished pitch, followed by a Q&A session. The Westfield Grand Prix prize will then be awarded to the jury’s favourite concept, while the People’s Choice prize will be awarded to the public’s favourite.
The Westfield Grand Prix winner in each country will then travel to Paris to pitch to a high-profile European jury. Only one business will be awarded the prestigious Westfield Grand Prix Europe, along with specific support towards its European expansion.
Applications for the Westfield Grand Prix in the UK are open from 22 May to 30 June 2023; complete a form and upload a presentation deck with your concept here. Finalists will face an online public vote to decide the People’s Award and will pitch to a judging panel that will decide the grand prix winner, to be announced in October 2023. The UK judging panel’s winner will then progress to the European final. See grandprix.westfield.com for more details.
