One of the region’s leading businessmen is backing a search for top entrepreneurs who can follow in his footsteps by winning free office accommodation at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC). 

Paul Callaghan, Chairman of Leighton Group and Board Member of One North East, has lent his support to the BIC’s accommodation competition, which closes tomorrow, in which budding business people can win a package worth up to £2,000 at the very same location in which he created the Leighton Group.

Paul Callaghan said: “In the fourteen years since its doors opened, the North East BIC has established itself as a leader in the development of an innovative and enterprising culture in the North East.

“It has helped over 2,500 businesses to start up in the Tyne and Wear area, and some of the region’s most successful businesses, including the Leighton Group, have begun their existences on the BIC site.”

Today the Leighton Group is a multi-million pound turnover business, trading in 40 countries on five continents, with 100 employees in Sunderland and in London.

Paul Callaghan said: “We moved into the BIC as a small publishing outfit in the 1990s, and found ourselves in a community of like-minded businesses which had a similar sort of interest to us, effectively creating a network of suppliers, partners and customers.

“There was also excellent general support from the BIC itself which took away many of the headaches – from broadband connectivity to a mail service - you would normally have in starting a business. This allowed us to concentrate on our main business.”

Paul is an immensely experienced and well-travelled business figure, but he has seen little outside Sunderland to compare to the North East BIC.

Paul Callaghan said: “What you have here is relatively unique. The whole thing has been extremely well managed and every time I go there I can almost feel the enterprise in the air. I’d urge anyone who wishes to get a head-start in business to take advantage of this unique opportunity to base themselves at the BIC.”

To enter the competition and stand a chance of winning an office accommodation package, as well as a range of free business services including IT and marketing support, visit www.ne-bic.co.uk or call 0191 516 6200 to request an application form.