Two surfing-mad brothers from Portrush, who are the entrepreneurs behind Northern Ireland's first surfboard company, have beaten thousands of hopefuls to reach the semi-finals of a competition run by Richard Branson, with a £1 million (€1.38 million) prize fund.

The Virgin boss is offering young, aspiring business people cash and support to further their ambitions. But first they have to win a place in a competition to pitch their ideas to him in person.

Ricky Martin and his brother Chris, who set up Skunkworks Surfboard Company last year, got through the first round and are the only Northern Ireland business to have made the semi-finals in the #Voom: Pitch to Rich contest.

The Martin brothers now have to stand out from the other 32 shortlisted contenders to make it to the finals and get the chance to put their ideas to the Virgin boss in the flesh.

Vote

To do this, they have to persuade people to vote for them online at virginmediabusiness.co.uk/pitch-to-rich. They have until tomorrow at 10am to secure enough votes to get through.

The Martin brothers have already secured £100,000 in grants to kickstart their business and have established a surfboard manufacturing facility in Coleraine, Co Derry.

But Ricky Martin says they now need to find additional finance to help them take the next step. “Winning Pitch to Rich would benefit us threefold. First, it will allow us to get our surfboard ready for market; second, it will give us access to the Virgin team and their advice, something money can’t buy; and third, it will offer a level of PR we could not normally dream of.

“Our vision is to create the most robust, high-performance soft surfboard and stand up paddleboards in the world, while making a minimum impact on the environment.

“We want to become a major employer and a centre for innovation.”