SUCCESSFUL entrepreneurs in the North-East have the chance to encourage aspiring business owners of the future through an online matchmaking service.

The scheme is the latest strategy from the If We Can You Can campaign, which aims to match the needs of emerging entrepreneurs with a business mentor.

The service – found at ifwe canyoucan.co.uk – also allows people to nominate themselves as mentors.

The website has also added a Pick Our Brains area, which gives people the chance to ask questions of some of the region’s entrepreneurs, including Sir Peter Vardy, chairman of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum.

The If We Can You Can campaign, set up by the forum, has been established in the region to help create a can-do culture and revive the spirit of innovation and enterprise for which the North- East was once famed.

Forum chief executive Carole Beverley said: “Anyone who has experience of running their own business can become a mentor. The key is realising how valuable your experience is.”