Are you one of the few whose idea has turned into a successful small business?

If so, you could win as much as USD$25,000 by participating in the United Postal Service (UPS) Best "Out-of-the-Box" Small Business contest, which this year is open to countries outside of the US for the first time.

To participate, a small business must submit a 500 word essay and complete an online entry form. You must have 2006 revenues of at least USD$250,000 but no more than USD$10 million to be eligible.

The top prize in the contest is USD$25,000US in cash; as well as an IBM small business package and inclusion of the winning business in an international UPS publicity campaign. A special USD$10,000 award in honour of UPS's Centennial celebration will be given to the small business that best demonstrate "end to end customer service".

Entries will be judged by a panel of three business professionals who have each run their own successful small business in Canada. Only one submission can be submitted from each company and only the owner or an employee can make a submission.

UPS is very familiar with small businesses. They started out as a local bicycle messenger service in 1907 and today most of their customers consist of small and medium sized companies.

UPS recognizes that people come up with business ideas all the time, yet few take the idea to the next step. Creating a successful business from that idea is even more rare.

"The majority of UPS customers are small businesses. When you work every day with small businesses, you understand the challenges they face," said Kurt Kuehn, UPS senior vice president, worldwide sales and marketing. "This contest is designed to recognize and reward those small businesses that are based on innovative ideas and concepts."

More information and the entry form can be found online at www.smallbusinesscontest.ups.com.

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