BUSINESS LIFE: School help firm in final 50 for award.

A HI-TECH Leam-ington firm has beaten off stiff competition from hundreds of other young firms to reach the final 50 in a national search to find the UK's best new entrepreneur.

V-Lan Ltd is hoping eventually to win the title of HSBC Start-Up Star 2003 and the first prize of pounds 20,000.

Tim Wilkin, aged 23, and Tim Hard, aged 25, launched V-Lan in April last year to cater for the growing information technology needs of schools.

With the government's decision to offer cash incentives to schools to improve their IT and boost computer literacy, the two Tims saw the chance to service some of the 21,000 primary and secondary schools across Britain.

V-Lan supplies schools with equipment, installs it and offers service support.

John Rendall, head of business banking at HSBC Bank, said: "This year's HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards have attracted a rich diversity of new businesses, proving that British entrepreneurial talent is thriving.

"Starting a business venture takes a great deal of planning, skill and determination, as well as a good idea. We are pleased V-Lan Lim-ited has got this far and hope they will inspire other budding entrepreneurs in the area."

The HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards, supported by the DTI and the CBI, invited entries from UK firms which have been trading for less than two years.

Ten finalists will share prizes worth over pounds 65,000, inc-luding the pounds 20,000 first prize and pounds 5,000 for the runner-up. Each finalist will receive pounds 4,000 worth of consultancy services courtesy of business specialists, Croner Consulting, and business software company, Intuit.

Judging to select the 10 finalists will take place in Sept-ember. The awards, presented in association with the Daily Express and Sky News will culminate in a dinner at Lon-don's Savoy Hotel on 2 October, where the winner and runner-up will be ann-ounced before more than 250 business leaders.