James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » OUT OF the darkest hour comes the dawn. At least, that's what those responsible for Tees Valley's economic prosperity will be hoping as the recession burns itself out.
The worst economic climate in decades is allowing savvy investors to feast on the carcasses of failed businesses or commercialise sound ideas that don't require shed-loads of capital to get to market. By taking the initiative now, they can steal a march over their competitors by the time the economy recovers.
Tees Valley already has some fantastic examples of entrepreneurial talent, showcased by this year's If We Can You Can challenge. The problem is, we need more of it.
Statistics show that enterprising activity in the North-east has risen from 4.3% of adult population to 4.7%. But this still lags the UK average of 5.6% and is a significant 1.7% behind London - considered the entrepreneurial epicentre of the UK.
So how can the great North-South divide, once a yawning chasm, be snapped shut for good?
A good starting point would be to shout louder about local success stories, which should help erode a cultural fear of failure among Northerners. While a can-do attitude prevails among Tees Valley's business community, there are still too many people who adopt a 'glass half empty' attitude or sneer at others' success.
The Entrepreneurs' Forum has the right idea by bringing together multi-millionaires and fledgling start-ups. Wannabe entrepreneurs have this misconception that their icons don't fail. At the forum's recent annual conference, TV Dragon Richard Farleigh admitted he'd backed the wrong horse on most of his 75 small business investments, although 17 have galloped onto the Alternative Investment Market.
Changing deeply ingrained cultural attitudes will do two things: increase the number of start-ups and encourage more people to scale up their business out of its present comfort zone. Calculated risk-taking can make this happen. And there's no better time to make this leap of faith than at the bottom of recession.
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