Communication is a key word for Elaine Budd.

It's been the main driver of her career in business and now, as the new project manager of Plymouth Business Growth, she wants Plymouth's business community to shout - very loudly - about the raft of success stories that can be found in the city.

Elaine took up her post three weeks ago and is now working three days a week at the Chamber of Commerce on PBG, with the rest of her working week focusing on jobs for the Chamber, including a revamp of its website.

Her appointment comes at a key time for PBG. The scheme came out of the City Growth Strategy, which Plymouth piloted in 2002.

This involved carrying out research to work out what the city's strengths are and to ascertain how best to play to these so that Plymouth can raise levels of entrepreneurship, grow its economy and attract more inward investment.

Priority sectors, including advanced engineering, marine, tourism and medical and healthcare, were identified and steering groups set up to move them forward.

Elaine's work will build on that of former project managers Carolyn Story and Peter Norris.

She has hit the ground running and is already working on plans for this year's Enterprise Week celebrations as well as getting up to speed with the activities of all the various sector steering groups.

Over the last two years, Plymouth has become known for its celebration of Enterprise Week and Elaine believes that this year's activities will be even bigger and better than before, helping to cement the city's reputation as a 'can do' place to start and grow a business.

Elaine said: "Enterprise Week is about promoting excellence. The Enterprise Week steering group is made up of people who are working hard to make it as successful as possible. We already have a full programme of events.

"I think the plans are in place for this year and it's going to be a significantly higher profile event than last year."

In her new role, Elaine will be liaising with a range of public, private and voluntary sector organisations - something she is well-qualified to do, having worked in all three sectors.

Born in Plymouth, Elaine grew up in Peverell and went to Burleigh Secondary School, before leaving at the age of 16 to work as an office junior for solicitors Gill Akaster.

She was keen to progress and joined another firm after a couple of years. Then came the move into marketing when she was appointed marketing assistant for Foot & Bowden (now Foot Anstey).

"I found I was interested in and seemed to have an insight into marketing. At that point in legal firms, no one was really marketing," she said.

She then went to work as office manager at Glider Advertising and Design, in North Hill.

There then came a slight change in direction when Elaine decided that she wanted to gain experience of the public sector.

She moved to the Westcountry Development Corporation in 1996, where she worked as executive assistant to the then chief executive, Mike Boxall.

It was a busy time as Elaine was working with her then partner on a new web development business, Tell.

Evenings and weekends were spent on the fledgling business, which Elaine felt filled a gap in the market.

"We started looking at the opportunities that lay in the Internet, particularly around marketing. We recognised the possibilities. At that time the people who were interested in the Internet were very technically focused. It was a very different thing and websites looked very different."

The idea behind Tell was to focus on how technology can be applied to drive forward business development, with a strong focus on customer care.

Elaine left the WDC in 1998 to devote more of her time to the business, watching it grow from an initial team of two to having a 10-strong workforce and twice being finalists in the Business Challenge awards.

In that time, it had also clinched contracts with the likes of BHS International which engaged Tell to develop and support its online supply chain management system for the firm's franchises around the world.

Elaine sold her shares in the Tamar Science Park-based company in 2004 and branched out in yet another new direction - as projects manager at the Diving Diseases Research Centre, a charity also based at the science park.

It was a diverse role that included introducing new phone and IT systems and guiding the organisation through the Investors in People process.

She said: "It was a huge learning experience working for a charity and getting experience working in healthcare and research because of the unique nature of what they do.

"Working with such a wide field of people with such strong skills in different specialisms was very insightful and it gave me an understanding of a whole new sector."

Elaine believes her background will help her to relate to the different organisations she will be dealing with in her post at PBG and is clearly keen to get stuck in.

She believes that upping Plymouth's levels of entrepreneurship is a key way of growing the city's economy and is urging people of all ages and backgrounds to develop a more enterprising and entrepreneurial mindset.

"If you had asked me when I was 16, when I was an office junior, 'would you set up your own business?' I would have laughed," she said.

"But if it's something I can do then it's something other people can do. That's why communication is so important and that's something that I really hope I can bring to Plymouth Business Growth. I hope I can help to communicate the importance of the activities taking place in the city.

"There are hugely talented people doing wonderful things and it's about making sure that we communicate that so that people raise their aspirations by looking at the success of others."

Elaine is quick to stress that adopting this attitude needn't involve anything daunting or impossible to achieve - it's just about aiming a bit higher and not being afraid to try new things.

She said: "I think the word 'entrepreneur' creates visions of people like Bill Gates and Richard Branson and no one thinks that that could be them, but enterprising people are all around, having ideas. We need to make sure that we have the environment and attitude to do that in."

One of the key projects that PBG is backing is Plymouth's bid for up to £20 million of funding under the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI), which aims to create jobs and boost business in deprived communities.

Elaine believes this offers the city a huge opportunity and is urging businesses and business support organisations to attend one of the consultation events currently going on across the city.

She said: "This is a huge opportunity for the city. The consultation process that's going on at the moment is extremely beneficial for bringing together partnerships to identify and look at common areas and opportunities."

But what if Plymouth doesn't get this funding? What will happen then?

"I think we have got to look at it positively. I think we have got a strong chance that we will be successful," she said.

Other key drivers in the city's development are the Mackay Vision and the city's Economic Vision, which is due to be unveiled during Enterprise Week after a high-profile consultation event earlier this year.

Elaine added: "If we succeed in raising levels of entrepreneurship, we will have a more vibrant city, a more exciting place, which encourages other people to come and invest in the city.

"What has come across to me is the huge amount of enthusiasm that there is for this. We have got all the ingredients there, It feels like we are on the verge of something big."