Your chance to rise to the Challenge
THE If We Can, You Can competition to find the top Tees Valley entrepreneur is officially launched today.
Previous winners include Guisborough’s Matt Stirland, the first face of entrepreneurship in the Tees Valley who went on to launch Streetlife and Military Fitness and is now in his second year of business, and Stockton’s Louise Bell, who used the competition as a launchpad from which to expand her Healthy Glow tanning party franchise across the UK.
The Challenge is open to any individual thinking of starting a business or looking to grow their existing enterprise to log on and tell their story - joining a growing online community of around 750 mentors and entrepreneurs, each at different stages of their journey.
The campaign, which is backed by nebusiness, is built on the Entrepreneurs’ Forum’s well established peer-to-peer support network, where personal stories and guidance from experienced current business owners cascade down to help nurture budding entrepreneurs.
Carole Beverley, Forum chief executive, said: “Being part of this community is empowering and inspirational. The people within this community are becoming ever more ambassadorial when it comes to entrepreneurship in the North-east - by shouting from the rooftops ‘If we can, you can’!”
Previous recessions have proven good for entrepreneurs, she said.
“Today’s business environment is ripe with opportunity for innovation and instead of dwelling on fears, it’s a great time to grab chances.”
Entrants have until midnight on May 3 to log on at www.ifwecanyoucan.co.uk/challenge and put themselves forward.
The prize includes exclusive access to senior Entrepreneurs’ Forum members and other senior entrepreneurs across the region; a business gadget; a business services package, worth up to £5,000; ongoing advice, including signposting to sources of finance; a place at Entrepreneurs’ Forum annual conference and dinner on May 20 worth £270 and one year’s membership of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum.
For the first time the Challenge also incorporates a special tribute for the ‘Best Entrepreneurial Supporter’.
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