Organised for the first time last year by the entrepreneurs forum, the campaign attracted close to 150 entries from would-be and established entrepreneurs who now contribute to a virtual hothouse of ideas at www.ifwecanyoucan.co.uk

The website is a source of inspiration and ideas from people who have ‘been there, done that' with real-life tales of tragedy and triumph - among them, the founder of successful Middlesbrough communications firm Calm Asylum, Simon Brown, pictured right, who left school to embark on a short-lived career as a professional footballer and ended up designing ticket booths for the Millennium Dome and ‘working on a lot of the underground station refurbishments'.

During that period he was made redundant three times. So determined to retire by the age of 30, he decided to strike out on his own. ‘I moved house, gave up my job, set up my own business and had no money, all in one weekend,' he says. Nine years later he's past his ‘retirement age' but is still enjoying the daily challenge of running his own business.

His advice to the many recently unemployed who see redundancy money as their only chance to fulfil a lifelong dream is: ‘plan, plan, and plan again. ‘Go and speak to people about your idea and then go and then go speak to people in the market about it. Do as much research as possible and ask as many questions as possible. If your first idea doesn't pan out, simply take your next idea forward and try again.'