Prime Minister backs ‘can-do’ campaign

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has lent his support to the ‘If we can, you can’ campaign, inspired and driven by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum.

The campaign was launched last year to help raise aspirations and ambition in the region, inspire people to set up businesses and grow them faster, and to re-instill the North East’s ‘can do’ culture that is famed for the world over.

The region’s entrepreneurial activity has been increasing since 2002, and ‘If we can, you can’ has been designed to help push this rate of growth further.

Yesterday, Mr Brown praised the efforts of the campaign, run by the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, and said such initiatives would help ensure a strong future for Britain.

“I am pleased to support the ‘If we can, you can’ campaign which provides a great opportunity for the business leaders of the future to showcase their talents and embark on an exciting entrepreneurial journey.

“With overall early stage entrepreneurial activity in the North East increasing by almost two per cent from 3.2 per cent in 2002 to 5.1 per cent in 2008 and communities working together to see Britain through the economic downturn, now is the ideal time for the next generation of entrepreneurs in the North East to realise their enterprising potential.

"I want to congratulate the Entrepreneurs’ Forum on this campaign which I hope will inspire more and more people to turn their ideas into reality and start their own business. Initiatives of this kind will help ensure a strong entrepreneurial future for our country.”