A leading business figure has called for more resources to be given to help existing businesses in the region ahead of the third annual national Enterprise Week to be held this week.
Sir Peter Vardy, who netted a personal fortune of £80m from the £506m sale of Sunderland's Reg Vardy in February this year, bemoaned the "poverty of expectation for success" behind the North-East's dismal levels of entrepreneurship.
In a speech to the North East Regional Information Partnership, Sir Peter, who attacked the North-East economy's reliance on the public purse, called on regional development agencies to support start-ups already here rather than "ignore" them in favour of attracting businesses from outside the region.
He said: "I remember that there were many times during my first 10 years as a business owner where a grant could have been a huge help and very welcome indeed, but... it was only when we were the most profitable motor dealer in Europe, and had a business valued at half a billion pounds, that I got a call from (regional development agency) One NorthEast asking me if I wanted any money for training."
Sir Peter, who called on youngsters with a talent for business to be "celebrated" and "nurtured" at school age, in the same way as those with sporting talent, said he had been `underwhelmed' by local response to his £50m venture capital fund set up earlier this year after selling Reg Vardy car dealership.
He said: "There just aren't the enterprises to take advantage of it. So our time is spent considering applications received from eager entrepreneurs in the North-West, Midlands and Wales."
Enterprise Week's "thousands" of activities are designed to inspire people in their teens and twenties to be enterprising.
Last year, the nationwide event, which is sponsored regionally by One NorthEast, saw 408,000 youngsters take part in events including Women's Enterprise and Social Enterprise days.
However, Nick Goulding, chief executive of The Forum of Private Business, which claims to represent 25,000 businesses employing 600,000 across the UK and Europe, echoed Sir Peter's call for a change in emphasis after a survey of the organisation's members found 82% had neither heard of, nor participated in, Enterprise Week.
He said: "If the Government wants to help entrepreneurs, they could do more to assist those who have already taken the plunge and not focus their attention on those who may not even be inclined to start up their own business."
Mr Goulding said the organisation's survey showed that what was holding back entrepreneurship was "not a lack of entrepreneurial spirit but the basic skills to turn that spirit into a viable business opportunity."
Sarah Green, regional director of the CBI, which co-owns the Aspire campaign which is designed to keep youngsters in the North-East, said the week would "shine a light on the potential everyone has to start a business".