SEVEN business big hitters are set to line up on stage for the North East’s premier event to inspire entrepreneurs and support homegrown enterprises.

From furniture to finance and food, internet to equity, air brushing to hair brushing, speakers at the Entrepreneurs’ Forum annual conference – this year entitled SEVEN – will provide a broad spectrum of views and business stories.

Founders of some of the country’s most successful organisations will take delegates on their personal entrepreneurial journeys and share their tips on how to make it big.

They include the man who has just saved Reader’s Digest UK from collapse, the woman behind a revolution in glossy magazines and the owner of Britain’s biggest and best known furniture retailer.

The conference is at the Hilton Hotel in Gateshead on May 20.

Carole Beverley, chief executive of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, said: “SEVEN promises not only to be significant, it will be magnificent.

“We have a line-up of seven incredible speakers with as broad a range of real life stories it is possible to squeeze into one day. Each is inspirational and has achieved through determination, innovation and ambition.”

She added: “SEVEN is a magnificent opportunity for entrepreneurs of all levels to step out of their businesses, surround themselves with the unique peer group that makes up the Forum membership and benefit from the wisdom of others.”

The speakers will touch on seven areas of business during the day – finance, sales, marketing, HR, technology, product and service – and tackle the seven loose topics of motivation, innovation, vision, accountability, sustainability, focus and persistence.

Columnist, author, entrepreneur and now film director Guy Browning is back to host SEVEN and introduce the speakers who are:

Lord Kirkham, the executive chairman of DFS, which he founded as Northern Upholstery in 1969. He will share the secrets of his success during four decades at the helm of DFS and take the story on from where he left off five years ago, explaining how the company has developed since he took the bold decision to buy it back from shareholders in 2004 – investing £200m of his family’s fortune and borrowing a further £300m in the process.

Jon Moulton, founder of investment funds Alchemy Partners and most recently Better Capital, who comes to the North East fresh from buying out the UK arm of Reader’s Digest. Renowned as Britain’s most high-profile and outspoken private equity boss, he has 20 years’ experience of buying and selling companies and gained notoriety after his audacious but ultimately unsuccessful bid to rescue the MG Rover car company when it was put up for sale by BMW in 2000.

Karen Darby made her mark helping consumers save a fortune on their electricity and gas bills with the SimplySwitch price comparison service. The business quickly extended its portfolio of products to include home phone, mobile, broadband and a range of financial products and was sold to the Daily Mail for £22m in 2006.

Jo Elvin launched GLAMOUR magazine in 2001, sending shockwaves through the women’s magazine industry in Britain. It is now well established as the market leader, fighting off the ever-increasing competition and dethroning Cosmopolitan, which had enjoyed a 30 year reign as the first choice women’s glossy.

Edwin Booth is the fifth generation of his family to run the Booths supermarket chain, which was founded in 1847. He was an HRH The Prince Of Wales Business Ambassador for the North West in 2005 and a finalist for the Ernst & Young Master Entrepreneur of the Year (North).

Darren Williams, co-founder of Hair X-Tensions Ltd, is representing North East entrepreneurship. He established the Sunderland-based business in 2005 to produce 100 per cent quality hair for a global market, traded through the website www.buyhair.co.uk. He is currently in negotiations with a high profile celebrity to bring out a range of hair extensions to retail through supermarkets and high street giants.

Dennis Turner, chief economist of HSBC Bank plc in the City, will offer a fascinating take on the financial climate as the country crawls out of recession. His role involves advising lending bankers on economic trends and his views are vital to decision makers on a national and regional level.

As always, the conference day will round off with a black tie dinner, entertainment and awards for the cream of North East entrepreneurship.

Multi award-winning Scouse comic John Bishop is making an exclusive appearance, dropping off from his nationwide UK tour to entertain North East entrepreneurs with his laughable look at Liverpudlian life.

This year the Forum has drafted in the top creative students from the region’s universities and colleges to design and produce the prizes for its prestigious awards in the categories of: Entrepreneur of the Year; Emerging Talent of the Year; and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

For more information about the conference, contact the Entrepreneurs’ Forum on 0870 850 2233 or log onto www.entrepreneursforum.net