Chancellor Gordon Brown has joined some of the UK's leading entrepreneurs in calling for 1,000 business leaders to join a campaign aimed at encouraging entrepreneurial spirit among young people.

Mr Brown said the National Enterprise Campaign, which is to be launched next year, was a chance to harness the talents of potential captains of industry.

He was speaking at a central London youth business conference to mark the end of a two-year nationwide tour by Alan Sugar, the chairman of Amstrad and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, aimed at fostering an enterprise culture among the young.

The pair were joined by James Dyson, inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner, and Martha Lane-Fox of lastminute.com.

Mr Brown said: "We want to encourage those who start with nothing - and who, in the past, thought they could never reach higher - that there is not only a chance to do better but that there is no limit to their ambitions.

"The sharpest spur to the enterprise of the young is the example of enterprise of others."

Entrepreneurs from a diverse range of British companies are being encouraged to join the campaign, which is being co-ordinated by the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC).

Chris Humphries, director general of the BCC said: "Entrepreneurs signing up to the campaign will be essential in promoting and encouraging at all levels - nationally, regionally and locally - the importance and value of enterprise and entrepreneurship.

"By participating in the campaign, they will be able to make a real difference.

Entrepreneurs and business people interested in lending their support to the National Enterprise Campaign should e-mail heroes@enterprising-britain.com.