Business
Berkshire entries wanted for Enterprising Britain
27th March 2008
Could Newbury be most enterprising town in the south east?
With only a month to go before entries close for the Enterprising Britain competition 2008, the search is on for the most enterprising place in the south east and Berkshire towns are being urged to apply. Now in its fourth year, the competition celebrates and rewards the most enterprising areas in the UK; those places of enterprise excellence that have helped transform the social and economic fortunes of their area. The regional winner will go forward to compete in the national finals of Enterprising Britain 2008, where the overall UK winner will be selected. The UK winner will get recognition and profile with government, business and policy makers, a winners trophy, automatic nomination as the UK representative to the European Enterprise Awards and use of the Enterprising Britain 2008 national logo.The competition, which was launched by Shriti Vadera, Minister for Business Competitiveness, is run by Make Your Mark on behalf of the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), and in partnership with the SEEDA (South East of England Development Agency).Peter Jones, entrepreneur and Enterprising Britain 2008 judge, said: “As an Enterprising Britain judge, I have been extremely impressed by the strength, determination and innovative thinking demonstrated by those people who have used enterprise to transform the social and economic fortunes of their community. The Enterprising Britain competition is a great chance for enterprise success stories from across the South East to shine and I urge people from across the region to enter.”Helen Cook from SEEDA, said: “Over recent years the South East has cultivated a strong enterprise culture and we are looking forward to showcasing our success stories in this year’s Enterprising Britain competition. Being part of the competition is a huge privilege and a fantastic opportunity to show the rest of the UK why the South East is a great place in which to live and work.”Last year’s South East winner was Slough Creative Academy, which was chosen due to its success in helping local people secure employment and setting up businesses in creative industries such as film, dance and music. Since 2003 the Academy has worked with 5,000 local people and helped set up 30 young businesses.The competition is free to enter and open to all towns, cities, parishes or neighbourhoods that can demonstrate how they have transformed the community through enterprise in the last two years. This may be anything, from a town that has introduced specific ways to increase employment to an individual project which has introduced an innovative enterprise strategy to overcome a challenge.All entries from Berkshire must be received by 18 April. From all entries received, the winner will be selected to represent the region. Once the 12 regional winners from across the UK have been selected, they will be visited by members of a high profile national judging panel. Last year’s judges included James Murray Wells, founder of Glassesdirect.co.uk and Peter Jones, entrepreneur and panel member of BBC2 show, Dragon’s Den.Together the judging panel will decide who should be crowned the national Enterprising Britain 2008 winner. For more information about Enterprising Britain 2008, entry criteria and how to enter, please visit www.enterprisingbritain.org.uk or contact Helen Cook at SEEDA on helencook@seeda.co.uk.
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