A BURNHAM-on-Sea entrepreneur who developed a study tool to help students has been shortlisted as a finalist in the 2019 Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

Nathan McGurl, who lives in Burnham, has fought off stiff competition to be one of the six business founders in the final South West heat of the Start-up Entrepreneur of the Year award.

The Great British Entrepreneur Awards celebrate the incredible stories that have taken entrepreneurs to where they are today, regardless of size or turnover.

Based on his own experiences, Nathan created The Study Buddy in 2018 to help students and their parents to structure and plan their revision in the run up to GCSEs.

Speaking about his nomination, Nathan, said: “It’s been an incredible nine months.

“When I came up with the method for my own son, I never imagined that it would be something used all over the country – let alone finding out I’ve been shortlisted for this prestigious award.

"The calibre in my category is really high.

"It’s genuinely an honour to be just listed alongside some of those companies.

"Regardless of how it goes, I’m already looking forward to next year with some exciting developments planned to help more and more students manage revision at home.”

2019 is the seventh year of the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards and across the country there are 630 finalists competing across 13 categories, including Start-up, to become this year’s Great British Entrepreneur of the Year..

Previous winners include Julie Deane OBE of Cambridge Satchel Co., James Watt of BrewDog, Alan and Juliet Barrett of Grenade and Shaun Pulfrey of Tangle Teezer.

Founder of the NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards, Francesca James, said: “With the changes to the format of the Awards, 2019 was always going to be an exciting year for us.

"But looking at the shortlist, I can safely say this is our strongest year yet. We have such a diverse range of businesses in terms of size and industry, and the calibre really is quite incredible.”

Details about The Study Buddy’s approach to managing revision, as well as products to help get started, can be found on the website. www.thestudybuddy.com.