Global Entrepreneurship Week 2010: A few of our activities

This year more than ever, Global Entrepreneurship Week takes on increased significance and David Cameron has already highlighted the importance of entrepreneurs in rebuilding the economy.

We share his thoughts when he says, “I can’t tell you how much I admire people who leave the comfort of a regular wage to strike out on their own.”

And, “When you think of a wealth creator, don’t think of the tycoon in a glass tower. Think of the man who gets up and leaves the house before dawn to go out and clean windows. Think of the woman who sits up late at night trying to make the figures add up to make sure she can pay her staff.”

If we can, you can shares the stories of ordinary people achieving and aspiring to achieve extraordinary things as they set up and build businesses across the North East.

During GEW, members of the www.ifwecanyoucan.co.uk community will be sharing their experiences at a wide variety of events across the region.

Here’s a quick summary – please read on below for more information.

15th – Our entrepreneurs inspire students at Bede Academy
15th – The Accidental Entrepreneur
16th - Spark in the Park – Bouncing back from ‘failure’
16th – Entrepreneurship Inspiration Day
19th – New Unplugged event with Getting British Businesses Online


Inspiring Words at Bede Academy

Two brilliant members of If We Can You Can’s community will be speaking to the Year 7 and 8 pupils at Bede Academy on Monday 15th, giving them an insight into the life of an entrepreneur.

Mark Ions, Managing Director of Exclusive Human Resources and Gareth Mellor, owner of Gareth James Chocolatier will reveal the secrets behind their successes and how they have progressed their businesses from their original idea to where they are today.

If like Mark and Gareth you are interested in giving back to the wider community and help inspire and educate students as part of our Ambassador programme, please contact Will who will be more than happy to hear from you!


Accidental Entrepreneur

At a time when many in the public sector are under threat of redundancy it’s great to see that Iain Scott of Enterprise Café is bringing his unique approach to helping people develop an entrepreneurial mindset to the North East.

We worked with Iain at Chance to Change and his Accidental entrepreneur programme runs on November 15th at Hilton Newcastle Gateshead.

It’s not just for those who are leaving the public sector but anyone trying to get their head around exactly what is involved – personally and financially – in starting a business. And as Iain says ‘it’s not about a plan or an idea, it’s about starting the right conversations’.

We’ll be running follow up sessions for anyone who attends the Accidental Entrepreneur to help keep up the momentum – and we’re also looking for people who have come out of the public sector or have been made redundant to put people in touch with. So make yourselves known!

This is an independent, private sector event and there is a charge for attending. For more information and to book your place on the Accidental Entrepreneur please click here


Spark in the Park

We’ve put together a panel of entrepreneurs including Lynn Gate, Steven Smith and Ali McLean to inspire students, teachers (and anyone else who comes along) at St. James’ Park on the afternoon of 16th November.

It’s part of Newcastle Council’s Enterprise Package and the theme is ‘bouncing back’. So, we’ll be focusing on the old chestnut that ‘failure isn’t getting knocked down, it’s not getting up again’.

We’re looking for any interesting anecdotes to include on the subject of failure and getting up and at ‘em again – we would be enormously grateful if you could email through a snippet of your story or how you feel about the subject and we’ll use it on the day to add to the discussion.


Entrepreneurship Inspiration Day

The Executive Centre Newcastle in association with yours truly, Better Brand Agency, Business Link and Herdman Jones Associates are delighted to invite you to a FREE Entrepreneurship Inspiration day as part of the Global Entrepreneurship week.

The event will take place on Tuesday 16 November 2010 at The Executive Centre Newcastle: Cuthbert House, City Road, All Saints, Newcastle, NE1 2ET.

The day will be made up of helpful seminars and workshops (many delivered by our members such as Mark Easby and David Wilson) to provide you with invaluable support and advice to help grow your business and take your success to the next level.

We’re mostly looking forward to heckling Will during his star turn (and very much encourage you guys to come along and do the same), but there’s lots of other areas of interest beside this designed to get your cogs going and leave you feeling inspired and more informed. For more information on the event and to register, please click here


Make the Most of Your Website – Unplugged

To mark the closing day of Global Entrepreneurship Week, If We Can You Can is hosting an Unplugged event in partnership with Get British Business Online.

Details: Friday 19th November from 8:30am – 11am at the Regus Centre The Axis Building, Maingate, Kingsway North, Team Valley, Gateshead NE11 0NQ

Using our successful Unplugged format we will hear from experts in the fields of e-commerce, Search Engine Optimisation, Internet Marketing and Web Design. So far, confirmed to be in the hot seats are If We Can You Can member Darren Williams of Hair X-Tensions Ltd and Gary Boon from Shout Digital. More speakers are being confirmed as we speak, so watch this space!

For more information on the event please click here. And to register for what should be a really informative morning please click here