Mr Brown will be hoping to boost the spirit of enterprise

But what are the chances of following a dream, developing an idea and successfully working for ourselves?

Business and finance leaders will try to answer questions like these at a conference chaired by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown on Monday.

Taking part will be ministers from France, Germany and Ireland, as well as Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve.

From the business world, luminaries will include Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, the world's biggest software company, Jean-Pierre Garnier, the chief executive of drug company GlaxoSmithKline, and Lord Browne, head of BP.

Big hitters

The topics they will cover at the meeting in London's QEII Conference Centre will range from economic reform in Europe to building a global company to closer co-operation with the US.

According to a report put out by management consultancy Hay Group, "entrepreneurship is at the top of the social, political and economic agenda".

"It has become a fashionable buzz word and yet in the UK it's certainly more about talk than action".

Richard Branson is just one of the business brains the UK has produced

After interviewing 17 of Britain's most successful entrepreneurs, the Hay Group concluded that: "Despite the interest and the economic arguments, the UK is not to be found amongst the front ranks of entrepreneurial activity".

The government is keen to change that image and has said it will help small businesses prosper.

Flying the flag

Among other things, it has increased the number of companies that qualify for a government loan guarantee, attempted to simplify the tax system and made it easier for directors to start new businesses if one has previously failed.

Putting aside Napoleon's barbed comments, the UK has done pretty well producing entrepreneurs with global credentials. Richard Branson, Anita Roddick and James Dyson are among those who fly British business flag abroad.

Since 1997, more than one and a half million businesses have started up in the UK.

Sara Williams, editor of Business XL, a magazine aimed at entrepreneurs, reckons there is more to come.

"People's attitudes have changed from 20 years ago," she told BBC News Online. "It's easier and more acceptable to start your own business".