We had an easier filming schedule planned for Tuesday. Martin Kupp from the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin flew into London in the morning and we met at Quality Court. Martin’s area of expertise is in strategy, business market management and value based management so it was clear from the outset that Martin would quiz me on my Business Plan (still in draft). Martin asked me who the ideal client for the HOTER project would be, how I would offset any doubts on the technology, and on potential risks and pitfalls. Martin strongly recommended that the first HOTER installation be in Malta, a market I am familiar with, as this would reduce risk. We also discussed other opportunities for the HOTER project such as adaptation for use on cruise liners or to service isolated villages in remote, arid areas. Martin had some time available so I took the opportunity to ask a few questions of my own, and he gladly obliged. Icould sense that Martin was a ‘teacher’ by nature, an impression reinforced by the fact that he supplied me with notes on how to improve my business plan.

The afternoon was dedicated to getting shots of me in some of London’s most famous sights, such as Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament. In Trafalgar square I noticed a rather chubby woman ironing clothes. A protester I thought, but how did she manage to get on the fenced plinth and why weren’t the police reacting? The following morning’s news informed me that the woman was one of 2400 people (plinthers) who had occupied the plinth over the previous 100 days – an art project (living monument) by Antony Gormly.. That’s London for you, I concluded. Dinner was Chinese, in London’s Chinatown followed by a good laugh at the theatre where we watched ‘The 39 steps.’

Wednesday was dedicated to shopping, before we caught the afternoon flight to (rainy) Malta.

I would like to thank the film crew, Kate, Shaun, Luke and Patrick for their patience and professionalism in dealing with an amateur. They made a gruelling filming job fun.

I write this on a Sunday evening – a time for reflection. It’s been a busy week – starting in London for 3 days of filming and meeting my mentors, followed with my trying to catch up with my normal workload in Malta and ending with a football game with 5-year olds as part of my nephew’s birthday party celebrations.

I travelled to London on Sunday afternoon, accompanied by my wife Jo. We arrived at our hotel late in the evening, with just enough time to pop out for dinner at an Italian resturant. I was picked up the following morning to meet the first of my mentors, Jeremy Leggett. A geologist by training, Jeremy began his career as a consultant for the oil industry. He later became an environmental campaigner for Greenpeace before evolving into a social entrepreneur and author. Jeremy Leggett is the founder and is currently executive chairman of Solarcentury, the UK’s largest independent solar energy company. My meeting with Jeremy went smoothly; the sun was out and we had the opportunity to have our discussion on Solarcentury’s roof which is a showcase of his company’s products. Jeremy and I have a lot in common; both of us are ex-environmental activists who have put our money where our mouth is and started up businesses in the environmental sector. However Jeremy’s experience is wideranging and his achievements too numerous to list; his shelves are groaning under the weight of the awards his company won but as he says ‘None of them have gone to our head’- despite the fact that Solarcentury is the fastest growing energy company in the UK. Jeremy’s main advice to me was that I should invest in good people, and especially in a good financial controller. In his view, engineers we can easily get engrossed in the technology, to the detriment of the financial aspects so it’s important ‘to get the numbers right’.

My afternoon meeting was with a ‘stress-tester’, Liam Halligan of Prosperity Capital Management (UK) Ltd. I must admit that I was very anxious in the run up to this meeting. ‘What does a stress-tester do? How does one prepare oneself to meet a stress tester?’ I asked myself. The tension oozed away as soon as Liam and I shook hands and he addressed me by my first name. We had a short discussion off camera and I was pleased to note that Liam had studiously read my business plan and taken notes. The conversation with Liam centred on intellectual property (IP) and what I should do to protect my idea. It was reassuring to get to know that although IP is a huge bonus (especially when it comes to attracting big investors) the project idea could run without having any IP. And the fact that Liam put so much emphasis on protecting the idea leads me to understand that he thinks the idea is worth protecting in the first place. Liam recommended that I immediately determine whether the HOTER project has any IP worth registering.

Back at the hotel I met Jo (who had a relaxing day in Kensington Gardens), and we dined at yet another Italian restaurant.

It hasn’t quite sunk in yet that I'm a finalist in The Good Entrepreneur Competition, despite an intensive 4-day filming schedule with a CNBC TV film crew who were in Malta before I touched the ground of my homeland after a 5-week Himalayan expedition.

My disbelief that we made it so far in the competition partly stems from the fact that the application was put together frantically and only submitted in the nick of time.

The story goes something like this:

I was informed about the Good Entrepreneur competition by a French journalist who suggested that I should have a go at it, having just won the France 5 Report Terre 2009 award for the best environmental project in 27 EU countries. I thanked him for the advice and casually looked at the Good Entrepreneur website and skimmed through the application. ‘Ok, this is not too demanding’ I thought to myself, completely missing the small print which says that applicants have to submit a 1-minute video. I jotted the competition’s deadline (31 July) in my diary and decided to work on it at a later stage. I got caught up with work and only revisited the site on the day of the deadline. That’s when I first read about the 1-minute video requirement. It was already 2pm and I had no visuals. I wondered then whether it was worth making the effort. Was it possible to put something decent together in such a short time?

I made a quick phone call to Jo my wife, whose friend Bella is quite artistic and practical where it comes to graphical design, photography and the like. Can she produce the video within the 10 hour deadline? 15 minutes later we were all on the road, driving towards the site where my demonstration project is located – on the other side of the country – but given Malta’s size is only a 30 minute drive away. I met with Bella and Jo at the site and drafted the video’s script in 10 minutes. We collected bits of miscellaneous footage on the way (dry reservoirs) to put the project idea into context but ran out of battery charge after only getting some 15 minutes of footage (Bella did not have time to charge the camera batteries).

We had no option but to work with what we had available. Back at the office I dug out whatever visual documentation I had about the project (the opening footage with water sliding under a sheet of ice is from a trekking expedition in the Altas mountains in Morocco); Jo and Bella sorted ,edited and put together the footage while I busied myself filling in the application. The clock was ticking and the midnight deadline loomed. 11pm and we realise that the microphone we have doesn’t work. Speed limits were ignored as we sped back home to look for a microphone. Recording the voice-over was impossible with two barking dogs in the background (the dogs were excited with all the activity) so it was back to the office for the recording of the voice-overs, putting everything together and then pressing that ‘submit’ button. The video uploaded with seconds to spare.

There was a great sigh of relief as the uploading bar disappeared, but official acknowledgement that our application had been accepted only came 3 days later (after the weekend), leaving us in suspense. Nevertheless, we went off to celebrate a job well done at the closest bar.

It is simply amazing that a video-clip that we managed to produce from scratch in less than 10 hours has managed to put me in the finals of such a high-profile competition, and has scored more than 1,000 hits. Great!