MICHAEL HARKINS AND THE KICKSTART DIGITAL ENTREPRENEUR AWARD

That this House congratulates Michael Harkins, a qualified and licensed swimming instructor, who runs one of the most successful swim schools in Scotland, for making it through to the final eight of a prestigious competition to win the KickStart Digital Entrepreneur Award, open to all staff and students at any Scottish university or Scottish research institution; commends the entrepreneurial efforts of Mr Harkins in developing the Turtle Pack, a flotation device; recognises that 40 per cent of children in the UK cannot swim and that drowning is the third highest cause of accidental death in Britain; notes that the Turtle Pack has been designed to revolutionise the Learn to Swim market through its unique components; further commends the key aims of the KickStart Digital Entrepreneur Award category to support early-stage ideas by providing enough funding to enable the project to create a prototype or to secure IP rights; and wishes Mr Harkins success at the Converge Challenge awards on 29 September 2015.