Run by the Evening Times in collaboration with the Newspaper Society, three ambitious businesses were selected last month by our elite business gurus.

They are South Side kids' clothes and toy exchange Merry-Go-Round, healthy pizza pioneers Eat Balanced and budding cafe chain Cafe Wander.

Also as part of the prize package, the winners are receiving help from the Herald and Times Group's advertising experts, who are already hard at work fashioning a series of eye-catching free ads.

Samantha Moir, who runs the "pre-loved" children's clothes shop Merry-go-Round in Glasgow's Nithsdale Road, has been advised by home maintenance magnate Les Meikle, of Wise Property.

She said: "Having Les as a mentor has been a great opportunity to look at our business from an outside perspective.

"We've been open for almost a year now and it's easy to lose focus or remember why you were doing things in a certain way.

"Les has helped us focus on what is really important and more importantly, what the customer sees.

"Straight away he suggested some really simple things we could do to raise our profile and he's also put us in touch with some great people.

"It's not until you stop and explain the concept to someone else that you remember what the important bits are."

Les said: "The "up-cycling" of kids' things is a fantastic idea, particularly in a recession, and this alone should guarantee its success with the right resources and communication, though the business has problems with not enough space to display merchandising and I have recommended outsourcing their accounting services."

Our other mentors, Laura Gordon of consultants Corporate Connections International and Raymond O'Hare, former Microsoft Scotland boss, have been hard at work with our other winners.

Laura reports from her sessions with nutritional pizza firm Eat Balanced:

She said: "Donnie Maclean and Katie Sillars are a strong team with some great ideas and plans for the future growth of the company.

"Our discussions have been around expanding the product range, new markets, and building brand awareness."

Raymond O'Hare meanwhile, has been talking strategy over coffee at the West George Street and Finnieston premises of Café Wander.

He said: "We've been looking at expanding Carolyn's network and bringing some new ideas and thinking into the business, also the need for her to step back from day-to-day things and think about future growth."

Caroline Dempster, of Café Wander, added: "Your team really just seems to get what we are all about."