Hunt for the UK’s Most Enterprising Place 2010
In February’s edition of Enterprise Upfront we featured Lowestoft as the UK’s Capital of Enterprise after they won Enterprising Britain’s search for the country’s most enterprising place. Now the search is on to find the place that will hold the 2010 title.
Launched in March, the Enterprising Britain 2010 competition is set to reward those cities, villages, towns and neighbourhoods that have tackled the economic downturn head on and are successfully creating jobs, boosting local business and nurturing entrepreneurial talent as the UK emerges from the recession.
To mark the launch Lord Davies, Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Small Business visited last year’s winner Lowestoft in the East of England to discover how it succeeded in reducing disadvantage by encouraging enterprising activity and self-employment. Visiting SMEs across the region Lord Davies learned how enterprise agency NWES has helped over 100 new business start-ups in the last two years. Kevin Horne, CEO of NWES, said:
“Winning Enterprising Britain really raised the profile of all the organisations working hard to regenerate the area.
“By providing support in business creation and nurturing local talent, Lowestoft is now seen as the place to do business. Winning has firmly placed us on the business map.”
The competition to find the UK’s most enterprising place has been running since 2005 and this year sees a change is format. For the first time it has expanded to five categories; Enterprise Culture, Driving Entrepreneurial Skills, Business Support and Start-up, Global Entrepreneurship, and Social Cohesion, iInterested organisations can enter any or all of the categories.
Lord Davies said:
“Entrepreneurship was crucial to moving the economy back into growth and
our future prosperity also rests on encouraging talented Britons to
develop their ideas.
“Enterprising Britain is a great opportunity to showcase communities who
have come together to build better futures and inspire others to follow
their example.”
The Enterprising Britain competition is a part of the Government’s drive to create the right conditions for enterprise across the UK. It seeks out areas which have embedded a culture of supporting and encouraging their entrepreneurs and businesses.
Enterprising Britain is free to enter and is open to all organisations that are working in partnership to create an enterprising place. The place can be a town, a city, a parish or a neighbourhood and organisations must demonstrate that enterprise is central to the economic and/or social transformation of the place.
To register interest email your contact details to enterprisingbritain@enterpriseuk.org Entries must be submitted by 31 May 2010 and the winner will be announced in October 2010.
Application forms can be downloaded from www.enterpriseuk.org/enterprisingbritain.