It is no accident that year after year Barclays bank and the North Yorkshire Training and Enterprise Council have co-sponsored our prestigious annual business competition.

Both organisations exist to foster the true entrepreneurial spirit in our region and it's fertile ground all right.

For instance, the TEC's latest employer performance survey of the York and North Yorkshire economy shows that of the 25,000 businesses hereabouts which employ fewer than 25 people, an estimated 90 per cent have a turnover under £1 million.

It suggests that in the Evening Press' circulation area there might be around 20,000 potential entrants for our re-launched competition, the 1998 Business Venture of the Year.

Brian Lawrence, senior enterprise adviser of North Yorkshire TEC, says: "Our involvement is primarily to celebrate successful local businesses which are the backbone of the local economy; and to promote the winners as role models to encourage budding entrepreneurs to follow.

"We are also keen to remind businesses that the TEC and its Business Link partners can provide a variety of business information, advice, consultancy and training services, designed to develop and support local businesses."

Phil Gees, head of small business at Barclays, York, a bank which has sponsored the event ever since it began eight years ago, points out that the competition underscores the importance that Barclays places on small ventures and their "get-up- and-go spirit."

He says: "North and East Yorkshire as a region has an above-average number of entrepreneurs as a proportion of the working population and research shows that the small business sector is enjoying the benefits of the boom in the domestic economy.

"This is reflected in the figures showing that initially in the first quarter of 1998 the number of business start-ups increased by 2.8 per cent to 131,000; whereas the number closing down decreased by 7.6 per cent to 113,000 over 1997.

"While only half of new businesses survive past the third year of trading, we see this competition as a way of encouraging those who put in the correct amount of planning and hard work to be among the survivors, who show determination to be the next Virgin." Business Venture of the Year Sponsored by

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