Lucie Macleod, founder and chief govt of Hair Syrup, has unveiled The Hair Syrup Honey Pot, a contest providing one UK entrepreneur £5,000 in money alongside 4 hours of personalised, one-to-one mentoring.
The award comes with no fairness connected and no industrial strings, with the intention of offering sensible assist on the earliest levels of constructing a enterprise.
The initiative invitations UK-based founders aged 18 and over to submit a brief pitch video on TikTok or Instagram outlining their enterprise thought. Entrants should tag @hairsyrup, use the hashtag #thehairsyruphoneypot and full a web based utility kind. A shortlist of candidates will then be invited to pitch in individual, with one winner chosen to obtain the funding and mentoring classes.
Macleod stated the scheme was impressed by her personal expertise of rejection and self-funded development. “One 12 months in the past I appeared on Dragon’s Den and was rejected on nationwide TV,” she stated. “That second turned the most effective issues that ever occurred to me as a result of it pushed me to imagine in myself, join with our neighborhood and construct one thing actual. I understand how laborious it feels to begin with nothing, so that is my manner of giving again.”
Hair Syrup started as a student-kitchen experiment earlier than discovering speedy traction on TikTok, the place Macleod shared her personal hair transformation story. A single viral video helped catapult the model into nationwide consideration, driving sturdy natural development and a fast-growing social following. The enterprise has since expanded quickly into retail, fuelled by neighborhood demand fairly than exterior funding.
In 2025, Macleod was named Younger Founding father of the 12 months at The Sunday Instances 100 Awards, recognised for constructing one of many UK’s fastest-growing magnificence manufacturers from a grassroots begin.
The Honey Pot initiative displays a rising pattern of founder-to-founder assist, providing early-stage entrepreneurs each capital and hands-on steerage at some extent the place entry to funding and mentorship may be restricted.
The competitors is open to UK residents aged 18 and over, with phrases and situations making use of.
