Five of Bermuda's top up-and-coming entrepreneurs took centre stage at the first annual Global Entrepreneurship Week Rocket Pitch Competition.

The contest was won by Jimmy Pereira, of ImportBDA, for his idea of biodegradeable food service products. Second place went to Alex Jones, of SuperCreamer, for his nutritional coffee creamer and third spot was taken by Nickeisha Burrows, of Wedding Bliss, for her online wedding planning site.

The runners-up were Max Hull and DeShion DeShields.

Participants were invited to present their pitch to the Global Entrepreneurship Week Host Committee last week and after a thorough review and in-depth scoring process the committee selected five finalists who presented their ideas to a panel of judges at the 'Start-Up Smarts Entrepreneurship Workshop' held at Number 6 Shed in Front Street, Hamilton.

The judges, who included Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce Terry Lister, Trina Roberts, head of the small business centre at Bank of Bermuda, HSBC and Calvin Smith, the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation (BSBDC) chairman, awarded first, second and third place cash prizes provided by the Bank of Bermuda and the BSBDC.