Jane North, chief executive of The Enterprise Agency, is stepping down after heading the organisation for six years.

Jane, who won the Sussex Business Woman of the Year award in 2002, said her "work was done" at the agency.

A spokesman for the agency said it accepted her resignation with "regret" and had begun the process of finding a successor.

Jane, 43, said: "It is mission accomplished for me. I have achieved my mandate and now I want to leave before it begins to feel like work.

"I have surrounded myself with the best team possible and together we have managed to drag the agency into the 21st Century.

"We have been telling people, not just nationally but internationally, that Brighton is a wonderful place for small businesses."

She added: "Of course being in Brighton has helped. I am not sure we could have achieved this in Huddersfield."

Jane now plans to take a sabbatical to reflect on her career and make a considered choice about her next move.

Jane joined the agency, which provides training, counselling and advice for small businesses in Brighton and Hove and Lewes, in 1998.

She is expected to leave at the end of May.

Under her direction, the agency was described as "one of the most dynamic in operation" by the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies.

Jane's first career was in drama teaching. She studied method acting and went on to teach at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.

She later studied law and her first position in business after graduating was as an assistant company secretary at the British Toy and Hobby Association.

She stayed there for six years, working with multinationals and family firms.

In the mid-Nineties, Jane became chief executive with the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies, where she pioneered a best-practice business exchange with EU contemporaries.

Relocating to Brighton, she went freelance and one of her assignments was management consultancy for a pan European research and development project, funded by the EU, into photographic copyright on the internet.

Her career has been threaded by innovative exchanges of ideas, including visits to The Enterprise Agency from Sweden, Macedonia and Northern Ireland.

Jane has also been involved in the Enterprise Hub, the Hub 100 and a Business in the Community regeneration initiative in East Brighton.

Thursday February 12, 2004