Sme wales issue4

THRIVING LIFE SCIENCES & MEDICAL INDUSTRY SIR CHRIS EVANS TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE FOR WELSH SMEs

+ BioWales + Industry Wales + Aerospace Wales Forum + Magstim + CWBL + 4MATIX FEATURED IN THIS ISSUE //

A NEW ERA FOR WELSH MANUFACTURING & INNOVATION SMEs

GIVING WALES WINGS

PAGES 4 - 31

PAGES 52 - 53

SME Wales looks at how the sector is evolving and growing in the Principality

CEO Jon Horne believes Cardiff Airport can be a runaway success

SME WALES

Published By Power Media Management T: +44(0)844 870 7168 E: info@powermediamanagement.co.uk

EDITOR

Gary Baker

T: +44(0)844 870 7168 E: editor@powermediamanagement.co.uk

EDITOR’S COMMENTS

OPERATIONAL MANAGEMENT

T: +44(0)844 870 7168 E: business@powermediamanagement.co.uk

SME Wales was launched into the public domain at the end of 2012 with the aim of supporting SMEs and budding entrepreneurs around the Principality.

Twelve months on the response to the brand has been overwhelming. Feedback from service providers, companies, sector skills organisations and people as high as Welsh Government has been incredible.

We salute you all!

CUSTOMER RELATIONS

T: +44(0)844 870 7168 E: info@powermediamanagement.co.uk

DESIGN

HOODOO DESIGN

E: hello@hoodoodesign.co.uk W: www.hoodoodesign.co.uk

The editorial content we write and the features we cover are down to the SMEs out there working hard at the coal face. With a new year ahead, politicians and business experts alike are talking about an economic revival for business after a long spell in the proverbial dol drums and hope the light at the end of the economic tunnel shines brighter in 2014 and beyond.

OFFICES UK Office:

Dalton House 60 Windsor Avenue London SW19 2RR © Copyright 2013 Power Media Management Ltd SME Wales is owned and published by Power Media Management Ltd. The views expressed by contributors, editorial team and other correspondents in articles, features, reports, reviews do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

Accordingly, the publisher is not responsible for any such views, nor for any act or omission on the part of any such contributors, editorial team or correspondent.

Neither is any responsibility accepted by the publisher for any loss or damage caused to any person relying on any statement in, or omission from Power Media Management Ltd the publisher expressly excludes any responsibility for any third party website or any other source reviewed or otherwise referred to in SME Wales. SME Wales does not necessarily agree with, nor guarantee the accuracy of statements made by contributors or advertisers or accept responsibility for any statements which they may express in this publication.

From the Welsh Government to the UK Government the focus is on helping SMEs grow as they are the key to the future. SME Wales issue 4 focuses on the evolving Life Sciences and Medical industries in Wales, which are thriving. But Wales has so much to offer across the sectors and it’s our aim to bring you features and relevant information about the exciting projects on the ground.

As we celebrate one year of our own growth here at SME Wales, we look forward to being with you in 2014.

You can join the revolution by simply downloading the FREE SME REVOLUTION APP to your mobile or tablet device.

SME Wales is represented across the following mediums: Quarterly Printed Resource

Quarterly Digital Resource (Download)

SME Revolution Mobile APP

SME Wales E-Bulletin

INSIDE: 4 - 31

Life Sciences & Medical

Manufacturing & Innovation

PAGES:

FEATURING: Industry Wales

48 - 51 FEATURING: GO Wales

32 - 47 FEATURING: Sir Chris Evans

Business & Innovation

Graduates

PAGES:

PAGES:

PAGES:

52 - 59 FEATURING: LMW

Community

PAGES:

62 - 65 FEATURING: Business In The Community

HELP, NEWS, ADVICE & INFORMATION FOR SMEs

ARTICLES: Industry Wales

7

Aerospace Wales Forum

8

MWMG

10

Hiut Denim Co

12

Melin Tregwynt

16

Bon Bon Buddies

18

Raspberry PI

22

Oakbank

24

Really Pro

26

4Matix

28

Sir Chris Evans

32

Professor Chris McGuigan

34

Cupid Peptides

38

BIOWALES 2014

40

Institute Of Life Science

42

Magstim

46

GO Wales

48

Cardiff Airport

52

The Business Network

54

LMW

56

CWBL

58

Training Know How

60

Business In The Community

62

WECAN

64

DOWNLOAD THE FREE APP TODAY!

Available for iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry & Kindle Fire

Manufacturing & Innovation

4

M A N U FAC T U R I N G & I N N O VAT I O N F E AT U R E

Manufacturing & Innovation

SINCE the days of coal and steel, manufacturing has been one of Wales’ economic cornerstones but up to just a few years ago, there were fears that the sector would struggle for growth, particularly among the SME communities.

A report from the National Assembly in February 2010, headlined ‘The Manufacturing Strategy’, told a stark story. Back in 2008, the report says, manufacturing had an annual value to the Welsh economy of £2.7bn which was 18 per cent of the Welsh Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, that figure was 10 per cent down on the same figures a decade earlier and the value of exports from manufacturing had halved in just six years up to that date.

The Welsh Government accepted in the report that manufacturing was ‘an industry in change’.

That report was three years ago and today that change and recovery is beginning to bear fruit. New, diverse companies throughout the sector have started in business, and organisations such as Industry Wales and the three forums they work alongside – ESTnet, the Automotive Forum and the Aerospace Forum – all provide links from the SME market to those companies who need Welsh SME services in their supply chain.

Industry Wales, launched in October this year by the Welsh Government, and their associates in the forums, include hundreds of ‘members’ – companies in their sectors who can possibly collaborate or simply share views from their specific industries of software and technology (ESTnet), vehicle parts and repairs and the world of aeroplanes with each other. They bring a whole

new approach to gaining contacts in big business who would otherwise not even give a Welsh SME with something to offer a second glance.

This ‘industry in change’ is highlighted by ‘The Wales Manufacturing Survey 2013’, produced by chartered accountants Broomfield Alexander and MHA, in association with EEF, who are based in Bridgend. The survey, which was carried out in January this year, said that responses from the Welsh manufacturing business community they contacted ‘painted a fairly upbeat picture’ of how companies were faring this year.

The report says that companies contacted had turnovers ranging from £1.8m to £41m and the majority of these businesses fell into the SME size sector, employing up to 250 people. The companies contacted ranged from high-end organisations in the aerospace and automotive industries to chemical, pharmaceutical, construction and other organisations.

And the feeling among these businesses was good.

The report says that 77 per cent predicted growth this year, with over 35 per cent of those saying they thought that growth would be moderate to high. Just 3.4 per cent of people contacted thought they were facing a decline in their growth.

Other key findings from the survey were: • Nearly two thirds of respondents had not considered approaching Finance Wales or did not know of Welsh Government support for the manufacturing and advanced materials sector.

• Over 88 per cent

of companies were confident that their capital expenditure would either remain the same or rise.

• Almost 50 per cent of companies thought they would be taking on more staff this year, and nearly 52 per cent said they planned to take on apprentices or trainees – although nearly 60 per cent worried that they would have trouble recruiting employees with the relevant skills.

• The issue of training and apprenticeships in particular caused some comment, with a number of companies suggesting that the engineering and manufacturing sector needed to get back the career cachet of quality and marks of distinction it deserved if more youngsters were to be encouraged into the sectors.

• The vast majority of Welsh SMEs – 77 per cent of them – are involved in export but would like a better understanding of how to source local partners in new areas of export.

• And manufacturing companies in Wales are maintaining the stereotype that a basic lack of knowledge of the opportunities, and an education sector preoccupied with funnelling school leavers into the service industries, means that manufacturing, vital to the Welsh economy, struggles to attract the brightest talent compared with other professions.

Progressing youngsters from education to manufacturing industries, when they may prefer to strive towards something they perceive as ‘more modern’, such as video and game production, may give the careers advisers a headache.

5

Manufacturing & Innovation

However, strides are being made to turn this attitude around and develop career paths for people who see the opportunities that manufacturing can bring.

Today, the Welsh Government are taking steps to place manufacturing and SMEs at the top of their list. The Draft Budget 2014-2015 is currently going through its discussion stages in The Senydd and among the list of ‘Priorities’ that Minster for the Economy and Transport Edwina Hart AM has on her agenda is the manufacturing sector.

Indeed, the draft Budget specifically says: “We are continuing to invest in the Wales Economic Growth Fund, providing an additional £20m in 2014-15 within the Sectors Action. This funding will be specifically targeted at SMEs and the manufacturing sector, although all sectors are eligible.”

SEMTA – the Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies Alliance – is an organisation that works with advanced manufacturing companies across the range of industries, both in Wales and the UK. They work ‘handin-hand’ with policy makers, decision makers, business leaders, Governments and other bodies, such as EEF, the UK-wide organisation which champions innovation and development within the manufacturing sector.

As such, EEF, under the chairmanship of main board member Gareth Jenkins, who is managing director of FSG Tool and Die Ltd in Cardiff, have begun advising Welsh Government ministers on what is needed to ensure the growth of manufacturing in the New Wales.

From the perspective of high-end manufacturing, Bill Peaper, SEMTA’s National Manager Wales, agrees with the Broomfield Alexander survey that the industry is doing well.

Peaper told SME Wales: “I think most of the manufacturers we deal with are very buoyant.

This month (November), we

6

have just started to do some research by talking to 300 companies about their skills needs and their businesses.

“It will be quite comprehensive and, by January, we should have some of the first information out from this research. There is due to be more in March and, by June, the first draft document should be produced.”

The industrial areas that SEMTA deal with and which are ‘buoyant’ include the aerospace programmes at various companies in both North and South Wales, along with the automotive manufacturers.

He said that the automotive businesses doing well were suppliers to major global organisations. “They are companies which produce the parts for people like Honda, Toyota and Jaguar-Land Rover,” he said. “There are a lot of parts organisations such as tool makers involved here.”

But, for the advanced area of manufacturing that SEMTA are involved in, apprenticeships and skills development are crucial.

They work with companies like Aerospace Wales, Colleges Wales, Careers Wales and Photonics Academy to source and drive apprenticeship schemes, which used to be the normal way that youngsters coming out of school in the 1960s and ‘70s would get onthe-job skills training.

Peaper added: “We have managed to build something up in Wales over the last few years. SEMTA look after the engineering side of manufacturing, specifically, and we have put together National Occupational and Apprenticeship frameworks so that training providers have something that they can work to for the students which is nationally recognised.”

Fresh new ways of manufacturing are also bringing more trade to Wales, with outreach areas like Carmarthenshire flourishing due to the new way of thinking of managements in the textile business. Melin Tregwynt, a

small woollen mill in rural West Wales, is now supplying to the Far East thanks to their internet marketing tools getting the message of original natural Welsh products out to Japan.

Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms have put Melin Tregwynt on the map and seen their productivity rise by 130 per cent as a result.

Managing director David Hieatt has a dream that his Cardigan company Hiut Denim can re-employ the 400 skilled jobs that were lost to the area when a major clothing business shut its’ doors 12 years ago.

Now, with unique, such as the History Tag that tracks the life of a pair of jeans, plus many new innovations, that dream of giving those people their jobs back is coming together.

It is not just in the world of clothing and textiles that manufacturing in Wales is holding its’ head high.

Companies such as Oakdalebased Bon Bon Buddies have been recognised by as high authority as Her Majesty The Queen for their work, receiving enterprise awards for taking an idea in the confectionery world and, through hard work, turning that into a global business.

And, where Bon Bon Buddies were in their evolution process a few years ago, so Pontyclun exhibition stand company 4Matix are now, growing from planning and working from home to a business with staff, premises, connections in the exhibition industry and a nicelyfilled order book.

Small to medium sized enterprise development has gained a lot of strength during 2013 and is recognised by not just Welsh Government, as highlighted through Industry Wales, but nationally, with Prime Minister David Cameron backing the UK’s first ever Small Business Saturday.

Manufacturing companies play a massive part in this growth.

They are a crucial part of the Welsh working fabric, as SME Wales found out when we went to look at the sector.

Manufacturing & Innovation

INDUSTRY WALES

INDUSTRY WALES HELPING TO LIGHT THE WAY FOR WELSH BUSINESS

WALES is making strides in the business world heading into 2014. The manufacturing and technology bases, as seen in our examples in SME Wales, prove that the Principality has as creative and ambitious a business environment as any other area internationally.

As the economy grows at home and opportunities present themselves both here and abroad, companies are hungry to take advantage – but require the right connections and support as connectivity throughout one industrial sector, or many, is the key to growth.

In the past few years, Welsh Government First Minister Carwyn Jones and Economy, Science and Transport Minister Edwina Hart have been flying the Welsh flag across the world, with SME company owners in tow, to knock at the doors of large multinationals.

But many companies are unable to do this on their own, which is where support and commercialisation arms come into focus.

To assist in creating growth and prosperity the Welsh Government launched a new body in October, Industry Wales.

Industry Wales’ mission is ‘Growing Welsh Technology and Manufacturing Business Globally’. There are three forums under its’ umbrella – the electronics, software and technologies network ESTnet, the Welsh Automotive Forum and the Aerospace Wales Forum.

Together, the three forums have approaching 400 member companies and a wide network of key industry contacts within the UK, Europe and across the globe. The forums work with member companies, from micro businesses to medium-sized and large organisations, within and across sectors.

The forums and bodies under the Industry Wales banner provide support, build solid business relationships and work to create opportunities for organisations to link with customers and suppliers and attend trade shows around the world. They assist companies in meeting with key decision makers and help companies which may be unsure of, for example, the processes of dealing with major buyers, or exporting or improving performance, to build the capabilities required to win deals.

Industry Wales’ role, therefore, is a key element in the nation’s economy and includes work on innovation, skills, investment, supply chains and international trade. Industry Wales and the forums work closely with other organisations and the Welsh Government on these vital components that together form the route to sustainable international success for Wales.

Mrs Hart said: “Automotive, aerospace and the software and electronics industries are key to the economy, creating jobs and wealth. I welcome the formation of Industry Wales, a pan-Wales organisation positioned to reflect and leverage the rapidly-increasing interdependencies between the technology and manufacturing base and provide a mechanism to respond to the needs of businesses competing in these sectors.

“It will play a key role in developing and supporting the growth of companies in Wales, as well as helping to attract new business and inward investment to Wales. There are significant opportunities for closer integration between these three industries, and other sectors too, as Wales competes for business globally.”

Going into 2014, Industry Wales will provide a single voice for technology and manufacturing businesses to influence government policy in the UK and shape delivery, a belief shared by Industry Wales chief executive Robert Kathro.

Robert said: “There is an urgent need to revitalise the Welsh and UK economies and rebalance them towards engineering,

technology and manufacturing, which is where Industry Wales is focussed.

“We have many successful companies in Wales and the aim is to build on this by helping existing companies of all sizes grow and attract new businesses and new industries to Wales. Industry Wales is working to engage with a wider number of Welsh companies and work with them to identify opportunities to grow and help them meet the challenges facing them.”

Already a underway.

number

of

initiatives

are

The Aerospace Forum is now fully integrated with the UK national Aerospace growth plan, ‘Lifting Off’. This means that Wales is positioned to take advantage of the globally-recognised strength of the UK Aerospace industry.

The Automotive Forum held its’ annual dinner in December with around 300 attendees and key speakers from both the UK Automotive Council and global auto brands. The Automotive Forum is a member of the UK Automotive Investment Council and this positions Welsh auto businesses in direct contact with the significant growth now taking place in the industry.

ESTnet, covering a very wide range of companies which design, develop, manufacture or integrate electronic or software technologies, runs regular networking events across Wales and is currently working on skills enhancement for the industry and a number of innovation initiatives. All in all, exciting opportunities exist in all three manufacturing and technology areas and Industry Wales is helping to making sure that Wales is best positioned to take advantage of them.

And Industry Wales is not limited to member companies within the three sectors but will encompass any organisation of any size that needs advice and help.

For more information about Industry Wales, the forums and how to become a member, go online to:

www.industrywales.com

7

Manufacturing & Innovation

AEROSPACE

GIVE WINGS TO WELSH SMEs

WALES has around 23,000 reasons to be grateful for the global aerospace industry. That is the approximate number of people who earn their living in the sector, manufacturing everything from screws and bolts to aircraft wings.

With billions of US dollars in the global industry and many companies with big contracts to win, getting a foothold with a major aircraft company would be the dream ticket for any SME. The problem is that, worldwide, companies do not contact businesses of that size.

But, one organisation, based in Bridgend, fights their corner and enables many potential smaller players in this massive market to get a foot on the steps to the flight deck of the people like Airbus, Boeing or British Airways.

It will be a decade next year since Wing Commander Paul Lindsay retired from the Royal Air Force and began working at Aerospace Wales, the network of organisations which fights the Welsh corner in the global battle for contracts and orders.

News headlines regarding aerospace in the Principality are usually dominated by affairs at major wing manufacturer Airbus, at Broughton, Clwyd, or Cardiff Airport. However, the sheer size of trade completed through Wales in the sector is astonishing.

Paul has recently returned from representing the Welsh business sector at a show in the Middle East. He said: “I was at the Dubai Airshow recently where Airbus sold 160 aeroplanes, 50 of which were A380s and each of them cost $400m (US dollars). Wales makes a significant amount of a mark on that type of thing.

This is what Wales is all about.”

It is not just about commercial aircraft either, with Wales having RAF bases at Valley, Anglesey (the most famous airman recently based there was HRH the Duke of Cambridge) and MoD St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan.

And people outside the sector may not know that six off the world’s top 10 aerospace and defence companies have major connections with Welsh industry.

These big organisations are helped by more than 140 SMEs in Wales, plus academic institutions around the country.

Therefore, aerospace is really big business in the Principality.

Paul added: “We at Aerospace Wales are the equivalent of the regional trade 8

association for the aerospace and defence industry in Wales. We have about 140 companies here. The big player that most people know about is Airbus, which employs about 6,000 people directly and indirectly on that site at Broughton, with upwards of 8,000 people involved in the supply chain to make wings. Nearly all Airbus wings are made in Wales.

“Then you have British Airways in South Wales, which has three sites, primarily engaged on maintenance, repair and overhaul activity. The longhaul fleets go through there for their deep maintenance at Cardiff Airport, all their avionics go through a site at Llantrisant and the interiors, including seats, galleys and toilets, all go through Blackwood.

“BA employ in the order of 1,500 people in South Wales.

Just along the road from them, the GE plant at Nantgarw employs 1,200, carrying out highly-technical repairs and overhauls on jet engines for a number of customers, like the Emirates, British Airways and Easyjet. GE alone is a $2bn turnover, from just one company near Cardiff.

“We are talking about a $5bn turnover in Wales and employing in the order of 23,000 people directly; and then there are those who are employed indirectly as a spin off.”

But the route to those markets is not easy and SMEs would find it extremely difficult to make the breakthroughs they would like without the help of Aerospace Wales.

Paul added: “The ‘big boys’ don’t want to deal directly with the small to mediums (SMEs). If we call the ‘big boys’ OEMs, Original Equipment Manufacturers – who are the Boeings, Airbus, GE, Rolls Royce, etc – they only want to deal with the Tier One (companies) and let the Tier One deal with the Tier Twos, Threes or Fours.

“What we do is to get companies to the right shows and exhibitions so that they can show their widgets off to somebody who is likely to buy their bits and pieces, knowing that Airbus and Boeing don’t want the bits and pieces, they want the whole assembly.

“We fit into this. It is a network of networks.

We work with the UK Government in terms of ADS, which is the national trade body for the UK. There are seven regionals in the UK, all independent, and Aerospace Wales is funded by our members and also the Welsh Government. We are trying to ensure that Wales, with its’ three million people and its’ 140 companies, gets its’ share of the business.”

It is not just about making things, with RAF Valley a centre of pilot training for the force’s fast jets, as well training and simulator refreshers for the Red Arrows display team; and there are a number of other smaller airports and centres around the Principality that are doing some great work in the industry.

Paul added: “Cardiff Airport is the one people know about because it is the national/international airport and has recently been procured by the Welsh Government, with the hope of making a mark there and growing. We have a number of smaller airports in Wales, such as Pembrey along the coast and Haverfordwest. If we go north to the Cardigan Bay coastline, then we have Aberporth, with the facility there for unmanned air systems.

“And just a bit further north from there is Llanbedr. You will see the news soon that Llanbedr is being looked at by a number of companies who are flying unmanned air systems, UAVs and UAS.”

Manufacturing & Innovation

These unmanned air systems are a success story around Wales and, in the future, could become a common sight in the skies of the UK and the world.

Their innovation means processes like mapping the country can be done much easier than sending a manned plane up to scan the ground line-by-line, so to speak.

things and find out if they need water or fertiliser without going out into the fields. In somewhere like Canada, where farmers have vast areas which grow wheat, the farmer cannot get out to fields to see what is going on. So a farmer could launch one of these and, with a computer, he could see what is happening.

Said Paul: “Most people know unmanned air systems – UAVs and UAS – as military drones that are used in Afghanistan and other places. But there is also a civil application.”

“So Wales is well placed with having the training area in Cardigan Bay, the West Wales airport at Aberporth and Llanbedr for the larger, unmanned air systems.”

Those applications could also include using unmanned air systems in remote areas of the world that need urgent food or water supplies as humanitarian aid.

Paul added: “Instead of a crew watching and dropping something, it could be done remotely. You would have someone safe on the ground somewhere who controls the system. It can be used for fisheries protection, forest fires, oil spills, fire crash rescue in supporting the rescue services. Mapping, for example, is done with conventional aircraft with cameras on board. But it takes a long time and is a laborious exercise, just flying up and down air lanes. You can do these things much easier, safer and far more efficiently with an unmanned air system.

“Wales has been working with Aberystwyth University and Bangor University on a couple of programmes to do this in terms of crops and food growth. You could fly one of these

Paul is hopeful that this unmanned technology will be a Welsh success story.

He added: “It should be and, going forward to the next three to five years, hopefully it will be. There are very few places in Europe you can fly unmanned air systems because you cannot detect these things in the sky as they are too small. So, in the coming years we have to segregate the air lanes to separate them. Over Afghanistan and Iraq there is not much air traffic at 5,000 feet so you can launch your drone. But, if you took an area around London Heathrow or Amsterdam or Frankfurt, the air lanes are maxed and the last thing you want is something flying there over which you have no control.

“So the aim over the next years is to get these things to work together.”

That is the future, but for now Aerospace Wales is ensuring that Welsh SMEs get the chance to speak to the main players in the global industry.

Paul said: “Over 90 per cent of the Airbus wings are exported and less than 10 per cent may stay within the UK. Companies like Spectrum Technologies at Bridgend, they export over 90% of their product as well. They will look at the UK market but, if you look at it, we don’t buy an awful lot of aeroplanes.

You have BA, Easyjet and Ryanair, but, arguably, none of them are really British anymore. We don’t have a hundred airlines, as we used to, so a lot of what we do is for the export business.

“It is about getting the smaller companies into that market place and getting them some exposure.

For example, we had a call recently from Cessna Aircraft Industries, who were looking for companies which can help them with actuation and control systems. We consulted our database and found four or five companies, some with immediate capability and some who could develop that capability.

We hope that, when Cessna are going through their procurement process, they will talk to these companies. It puts these small guys in with the medium and ultimately in with the big guys to grow their business.

“We work with the Sector Skills Council, with SEMTA (engineering skills organisation) and other bodies to make sure we have the education, skills and training to progress it.”

For further information about Aerospace Wales, go online to:

www.aerospacewalesforum.com

9

Manufacturing & Innovation

MWMG

LOOKING OUT FOR THE RURAL MANUFACTURERS

ALL industry needs support from like-minded people and organisations from time to time, and particularly when they are based in remote parts of the Principality. It is good to talk, and, when opportunities and events are arising for companies to do business, that is exactly where bodies like the Mid Wales Manufacturing Group (MWMG) and their colleagues at Coleg Sir Gar, Llanelli, West Wales, come into their own.

The forums and groups have many and varied strings to their bows across the whole remit of manufacturing and so are the perfect places to gauge the map of the industry outside the M4 corridor, or south from the North Wales Expressway.

Holding events for members in Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham or Holyhead are fine for those companies who are nearby, but for the rural manufacturers they are a headache to reach and normally mean a day off the production line.

So, MWMG, for one, provide support and connections with business for more than 200 manufacturing companies from their headquarters in Newtown, Powys. These include everything from pensions and investments, insurances, advice, information about grants and the application process through to marketing, finance and how to reduce business rates.

The Forum’s work is invaluable to those organisations working north of the Brecon Beacons and south of Snowdonia. It is the job of MWMG group manager Ceri Stephens to co-ordinate the operation. She explained how crucial having support and someone to talk to is for companies wishing to trade in a country environment, rather than a city.

Ceri said: “Things are very positive as far as the sector is concerned in Mid Wales and have been for the past year. It is definitely a growing sector here, but one of the issues we seem to have is over skills.

“There is a real skills gap among people who work in the area and it is sometimes very difficult to recruit for certain positions within a company.”

But Ceri and her team in Mid Wales have impressive ideas – and some may say radical ways – to get those people who need work into the right jobs.

She added: “That is one of the issues on which we are focusing at the moment. One of our missions is to close that skills gap. One of the things we are looking at is those coming out of the armed forces, to find a job consistent with the skills for which they have trained.

“It is all part of raising awareness to address the skills issue and help our members develop and grow their businesses.”

Ceri added: “Companies have had an opportunity to look at this in the last three years and they are now looking to reap the benefits. It is a hugely positive future for manufacturing in Mid Wales and the UK as a whole.

10

Manufacturing & Innovation “We don’t have a large proportion of big manufacturers in Mid Wales and there are only a couple of companies that are employing a few hundred people. And we don’t have an over-reliance on one particular sector of manufacturing here.”

Confidence that a business will succeed in a rural part of Wales is a significant factor in whether a company will start from scratch or redeploy to an area which has a multitude of benefits, but is just a bit out of the way.

But, with a membership which stretches from Aberystwyth to Shropshire and with a scattering of companies realising the potential of the region of Wales by joining from Swansea and district, the future seems to be good.

And that has sparked Coleg Sir Gar, part of the new University of Wales Trinity Saint David Group in the Carmarthen and West Wales area, to look at a manufacturing forum of similar status to help their companies expand and grow.

Dave Howells, Director of Business Development for Coleg Sir Gar, said the fact that manufacturing companies, particularly SMEs, are willing to embrace new ways of marketing and developing their organisations means that they will reap benefits in the future.

Dave said: “More companies are embracing the internet in our part of the world to widen their reach to customers.

Many are diversifying into other areas of the internet and one company in the region has recently set up its own eBay shop.

For more information about Coleg Sir Gar, go online to: www.colegsirgar.ac.uk

“In terms of the manufacturing sector, it has been very tough over the past few years and it is still tough now.

There is a massive drive for efficiency gains and being lean is high on the priority list of the manufacturing sector.

This is also reflected across other sectors, including Food and Construction, that we are supporting through funding available from the Welsh Government”.

Where Mid Wales is tackling the need for people with good skills to fill vacancies, West Wales are using these people as much as possible through the Skills for Industry initiatives.

Dave said: “In the construction sector there are a lot of experienced people out there who don’t have qualifications but who need a CSCS (Construction Skills Certificate Scheme) card.

We are supporting SMEs in this sector by delivering a wide range of on-the-job qualifications through the OSAT (On Site Assessment and Training) model so that they can apply for their CSCS cards.”

Moreover, one of the biggest skills initiatives that is being embraced by Dave and his colleagues is the need to get more young people up to speed in work and training, particularly through the much-vaunted Apprentice programmes.

SME Wales has highlighted West Wales companies which are making their mark in manufacturing and the initiative to bring them together can only bear further fruit to the sector on the outer reaches of the Principality.

Dave added: “We take a holistic view to workforce development and provide products and services that companies want in a flexible manner, whatever the sector. For example, we combine lean training hand in hand with management training to gain the impact needed for long-term sustainability. Our approach is to put the needs of the company first and work in partnership to achieve successful outcomes that really benefits the SME and its workforce.”

For more information about MWMG, go online to: www.mwmg.org 11

Manufacturing & Innovation

HIUT DENIM CO:

RETURNING A TOWN TO ITS FORMER GLORY

WHEN 400 people lost their jobs in Cardigan as a major employer found they could not continue it was a massive blow to the community. Many of those skilled workers from the local factory that produced denim and jeans probably thought that was the end for the clothing line.

But, 12 years on the machines are running again and 10 of those 400 are back in business, with a visionary businessman aiming to eventually put all of those people back in jobs at his company, Hiut Denim.

It is a revival moulded, not from gaining orders from major retailers in the UK and delivering to their premises. For a tiny SME based in the far west of Wales that would have been uneconomical, to say the least.

This revival of a Welsh manufacturer has been born out of new technology and driven by the internet. So much so that within a month of opening its’ doors managing director David Hieatt had six months worth of orders and doubled his workforce from five to the current 10.

Jeans are jeans, maybe, but innovation and creativity can turn these, the most worn garment in the world, from just a mass-market product into exciting brands.

It has happened before. Denim were just blue jeans once but innovators discovered a market in fade blues and, more recently, ripped jeans

12

that, 20 years ago, would have been thrown out with the rubbish.

Now David has created the History Tag, a unique number given to his jeans so that their progress, from sewing machine in his factory to their sale, their use by a customer to when the owner decides they have had enough of them and gives them away, can be traced. It is, said David, all about giving the garments a story that can be related to.

In doing so, David and Hiut Denim have created a world first with the History Tag. He said: “The History Tag number means this. People register and can put the number into a website. Then

you upload photos of where you are, what you are doing and who you are doing it with to the website and so create a story about your jeans.

“The memories you save may not be a big deal at the moment, but in years to come you can look back at them. When they are handed down to somebody, or these jeans end up in second hand stores one day, the story goes with them.

“We are experimenting with it at the moment but we aim to have 20 to 30 ideas like that before we find ‘the one’ that makes the difference to us.”

The global phenomena of denim and jeans in recent years has seen their worldwide sales soar to more than $5.4bn (US dollars) just two years ago; and a major report from JustStyle.com estimates that figure will increase even more before 2018.

Manufacturing & Innovation

13

Manufacturing & Innovation For big manufacturers contracted to supplying the brands seen in ‘signature’ shopping centre stores their route to market is pretty clear.

However, for independents, like Hiut Denim, it is more about thinking, not just as a clothes manufacturer, but in terms of the creativity in design of the garment adjacent to sales and marketing.

David added: “We have put into place something called the Denim Breeder Club. This is where you can buy a pair of jeans and put a deposit into the ‘Club’. You wear the jeans for six months and return them unwashed. We then give you the deposit back, wash them and give you 20 per cent off your next pair.

We are not a company that stands still.”

The internet has become their main tool of sales, marketing and growth.

A vibrant and clean-looking website, along with social media and easy ways to buy, is their route to market and how the business has developed.

David, who moved to West Wales from near Ystrad Mynach, said: “That is what we are trying to do. We ship to countries all over the world, from California (USA) to Sweden and Europe, Australia and Japan. People find us on the internet and order from there.

“We have to find a way to bring ideas to the jeans industry, which had its’ most innovative day back in 1873 (when they were first made). In the last 140 years there has not been much innovation.”

Hiut Denim are not a charity – David would never claim to have set the business up as that – but the whole ethos and ethics of the company is about making Cardigan and its’ skilled workforce, who lost their jobs when their factory closed down in 2001, a viable, thriving community once more.

The aim is to re-employ all 400 of those people who lost their jobs and rediscover the potential of those former employees, who once turned out 35,000 pairs of jeans a week. It is a determination that runs through David’s veins.

“That’s why we have started The Hiut Denim Company,” he said. “To bring manufacturing back home. To use all that skill on our doorstep and to breathe new life into our town. As 14

one of the ‘Grand Masters’ (expert sewers) said to me when I was interviewing (for employees), ‘This is what I know how to do. This is what I do best’. I just sat there thinking, ‘I have to make this work’.

“We are fighting for the right to do this. If we lose these skills, they will not return. The town that has spent 40 years with this and building a global denim brand is within reach.

That is the thing we are trying to do.

“What that means is we are only doing what other countries already do quite well. The Italians have businesses which are rooted in their towns around the country and the Germans have businesses like that as well. I am not doing something remarkable, but we don’t hear about that over here.”

And David’s philosophy is simple.

Hiut Denim do not make denim jackets, handbags or anything else fancy. They make jeans.

David said: “You have to do one thing well. We make jeans. That’s it. Nothing else. No distractions, nothing to steal our focus, no kidding ourselves that we can be good at everything, no trying to conquer the whole world. We just do our best to conquer our bit of it.

“So each day we come in and make the best jeans we know how. Use the best quality denims, cut them with an expert eye and then let our Grand Masters behind the sewing machines do the rest. There is a great deal of satisfaction to be gained from making something well, of such superior quality that you know it is going to stand the test of time. It makes the hard work and the obsessing over each and every detail worth all the effort. That’s our reward. That’s why we stick to just making jeans.”

Reopening the factory was hardly a risk either with so much expertise and the operational machine there to be used.

“The previous factory closed in November, 2001, and at the time I was working for another company,” said David. “I had gone into the factory and seen how great it was, with a machine doing 35,000 pairs of jeans a week. I didn’t think too much of it at the time. It was only when I left my business that I thought of it.”

So, what of the future and The Dream of re-employing all that skill which is waiting in Cardigan?

David added: “I don’t know if we can get 400 good people their jobs back right now. It might take 20 or 40 years, but that’s the mission.

However, I don’t see a time when people around the world stop wearing jeans. And the internet is here to stay! If we can do that and keep the skills in the town, we will have done our job.”

And the town that once made jeans will be back and manufacturing in a wholly new business environment – marketing and selling their products to the world on the web!

For more information about Hiut Denim Co go online to: www.hiutdenim.co.uk

Manufacturing & Innovation

15

Manufacturing & Innovation

MELIN TREGWYNT:

WOVEN INTO THE TAPESTRY OF WELSH MANUFACTURING

MANUFACTURING is not only about new technologies and cutting-edge products these days. The age old and traditional is just as good as the new, as Melin Tregwynt, a small weaving mill in the heart of West Wales, is proving.

After a century of producing textiles, business has never been better for the company, who are taking on more local workers to expand the manufacture of their bespoke wool products.

It is an example of traditional methods paying dividends – but Melin Tregwynt are also not lagging behind in the new technology environment that has encompassed the manufacturing sector.

Their looms may be second hand, but Melin Tregwynt are as switched on in their marketing and sales fields as any other company. Otherwise, managing director Eifion Griffiths admits, few customers and clients would know of them, based as they are in a remote, if extremely beautiful, corner of the UK. Production began at the Pembrokeshire Mill in 1912, when Henry Griffiths – Eifion’s grandfather – bought the premises for £750. Just four years later Eifion’s father, Howard, was born and the family tradition has continued for over a hundred years, through good business times and bad.

The weaving process has not altered to this day, even if the current looms are more efficient and computers have taken over the back-end work.

Eifion said:

“If my grandfather came back now he could walk into the mill and see the weaving and fundamentally it hasn’t changed; but if he walked into the office, he would not recognise it.”

16

Eifion and his staff have utilised every grain of new communications technology they can muster, designing their website and using the internet to promote their products, to attract people to the area and using social media strands – from RSS feeds to Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin – to get their message out to the world.

Over the years we have seen things turn around in that people are having things made over here rather than overseas. Years ago, machines that were used in the textile industries were leaving the UK and going overseas. It was difficult to get the machines because they were being sold abroad.

It has worked. The company make cushions, blankets and throws and supply their stock ranges to companies like John Lewis, Heals, Libertys, Conrans and many designled home and accessory shops in the UK, US, Europe and Japan.

“Now we are buying back those second-hand machines from China and much of the high-end, quality textile manufacturing is coming back to the UK.

Hotels supplied have included Mercure Hotels, Soho House, the Arch Hotel and the Boundary Hotel in London, Salcombe Harbour and the Grove.

In addition to their stock ranges they have worked with companies as diverse as Muji, Margaret Howell, the Victoria & Albert Museum, Tate Britain and Mulberry, who have all commissioned exclusive ranges of fabrics, throws and blankets.

“It is interesting that our best overseas market is currently Japan,” said Eifion.

“They have always been interested in the provenance and the story behind everything. They want the products to have an authentic feel about them, expressing the identity of the maker and they value the authenticity of our work.”

Despite the recession Melin Tregwynt has seen their production more than double in the last four years. Part of this increased market-led demand is the move away from the import of cheap products from the other side of the world.

Eifion added: “I don’t think we have ever been busier than at the moment.

“Historically in Wales there were hundreds of small mills going back to the 19th century and the Industrial Revolution. The Welsh woollen industry used wool from local sheep to supply flannel for the army and workers in the coal and steel industry in Wales.”

The number of mills declined rapidly between the two World Wars and afterwards, when the Wool Marketing Board made yarn available from a central location. A wider variety of different qualities of wool were available to use and the direct link with the local farming community was lost.

Today Melin Tregwynt buy their yarn from UK based spinners, but the raw wool is mainly sourced from the southern hemisphere, Australia and New Zealand, Turkey and China.

Eifion added: “In Wales, the sheep are traditionally bred for their meat and not their wool. Wool from Welsh sheep is used mainly for carpets because it is heavier and coarser than the softer fleeces that we need for our products.

However, we’re now looking to develop a range of softer yarns spun from British sheep’s wool.”

Manufacturing & Innovation

Cushions and throws are the main products of Melin Tregwynt, but their new upholstery range is also becoming very popular. Unlike bigger manufacturers, the Pembrokeshire company cater for niche, rather than mass, production; and that is where their success seems to have been crafted in recent years.

“We live in West Wales. It is a lovely place to work, but our markets are elsewhere,” said Eifion.

“The majority of our customers are outside our area, so it would be difficult to get ourselves known to them if it was not for the internet.”

And it is the back story of the products, their history and where they come from, which creates the mystique for Melin Tregwynt, particularly their foreign market. “I remember when we first started working in such a sophisticated market.

I was nervous because, whereas it is very beautiful here where we work, it is just a small mill in Wales. These days, the story of how the products are made and where add value for an increasingly sophisticated market.”

They are also researching how to ‘sell coals to Newcastle’ and expand into the Chinese market, whose oriental fabrics are globally famous. That is something for the future, but Eifion added: “The fact that we are a traditional company is a big part of the brand and I would not like to change it.”

Eifion and his staff understand that getting their name out into the wide world via modern technology plays a crucial part in the growth and success of their business – but that retaining the traditional skills of manufacturing, weaving and design are equally crucial.

Their bespoke branding and target marketing has seen Melin Tregwynt become a worldwide name; and now they have a good start to continue into their second century of producing pure Welsh wonders.

Find out more about Melin Tregwynt by logging on to their comprehensive website at www.melintregwynt.co.uk 17

Manufacturing & Innovation

BON BON SUCCESS IS SWEET FOR WELSH BUDDIES: ENTREPRENEUR CHRIS HOWARTH WHEN Chris Howarth found a niche in the market to produce character confectionery over two decades ago he could not have wished for more than to become a global brand and link with the biggest entertainment companies in show business.

That is exactly how Bon Bon Buddies, based in Oakdale, have developed since 1993 – and now they plan for even more expansion. All of which has this year resulted in a visit to meet HM The Queen at Buckingham Palace and to collect their Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

That was three months ago, but Her Majesty could justifiably have been slightly distracted from her duties that day – July 23 – as something else must have been occupying her thoughts. The Enterprise Awards ceremony took place just 24 hours after the Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to Prince George at St Mary’s Hospital, London.

However, just as July 22 would go down in national history, July 23 was also historic for managing director Chris and his staff at Bon Bon Buddies. Chris said: “It was quite a surreal experience.”

The company, which has a chocolatemanufacturing arm based in Chesterfield, has grown throughout Britain, onward to France and then further afield to all corners of the globe.

The niche that Chris discovered was to licence the rights to use some of the most famous and iconic characters in worldwide entertainment, including Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Warner Bros Bugs Bunny, and turn them into confectionery.

The Bon Bon Buddies subsidiary, BBBDovedale Ltd, is based near Chesterfield and produces chocolate products for both Bon Bon Buddies and major brand names. The Welsh office at Oakdale, just north of Blackwood, Gwent, is the nerve centre of the whole operation, which stretches far and wide.

And Bon Bon Buddies’ journey has seen them discover that, while one 18

idea works well in one country, such as the UK, it may not necessarily be the same elsewhere, meaning the manufacturing process has to be adapted to take stock of different commercial and cultural practices.

Chris said: “We employ roughly 60 people in Oakdale and roughly 40 across the rest of Europe and we employ approximately 40 to 100 people, depending on the time of year, at our chocolate factory in Chesterfield.”

Chris conceived the idea for the company after selling a previous business in the early 1990s. He explained: “I had just sold my previous company in 1992 and, while I was running that business, I had done some work for a confectionery company, packing a product. We did all the design work, all the manufacturing work and it won Product of the Year at Woolworths. I thought, ‘There is something in this’.

“When I sold my business I had a close look at the confectionery gifting sector and came up with a few concepts. I was very fortunate to get a decent order from Woolworths in 1993 and then from Sainsbury’s at Easter, 1994. It kicked off from there.”

Having the manufacturing knowledge and business acumen already helped Chris, but growth of Bon Bon Buddies still meant having to convince retail buyers that a new product should be stacked on their shelves.

Chris said: “I did not have the contacts and I just had to keep phoning and being a pest. Then, once you have got through to the buyer, you have to come up with a plausible story as to why they should have a meeting with you and then, at the meeting, present the concepts.”

It also helped the new SME that there were few other companies doing the same as Chris, who spent six months researching and planning the business.

He said: “At the time the UK market was dominated very much by one player and, in my opinion, they were fairly lacking in innovation. I thought I could do a better job in sourcing some of the gifting containers for the confectionery. I knew I could bring something to the market and knew how to structure an operation to import components, pack and supply to multiple retailers.

“For the first eight years of the businesses life we were UK-centric. We were expanding our base in the UK to multiple retailers and the wholesale channels. After that, we thought there was an opportunity to replicate what we were doing here in other countries.

We targeted the nearest, which is France, and the way we did it was by initially working through a distributor and then, when we began to gain critical mass, we decided to appoint a full time general manager for a subsidiary business there.

Manufacturing & Innovation

19

Manufacturing & Innovation “He was an experienced manager with contacts in the French confectionery industry and knew the market. It became apparent very quickly that the model we had in the UK would not work in France because the route to market was different and a lot of the product requirements were different. So, we adapted offerings to the French market and became a French-facing business.”

Bon Bon Buddies have evolved enormously since those early years and Chris sums up what they are about in 2013, saying:

“We are now involved in a whole number of sub categories in the confectionery arena. Our core business – about 60 to 65 per cent of our group revenue – is from licensed character confectionery and, within that, there is a whole portfolio of products and product categories so, in that, about 30 per cent is Easter based, 30 per cent is for Christmas and 40 per cent are everyday products.”

Another element of the business plan critical to making it happen is having a great working relationship with the businesses that have invented the characters and licence their use to Bon Bon Buddies. Chris said: “The relationship we have with our licensors is very complex. They require detailed audit information of all of our factories, detailed quality assessment of every single product, probably five or six stages of product approval, from concept to first production; and we have a whole team of people who are totally focussed on delivering the needs of our licence partners and ensuring we are best in class in terms of the process and the way in which we execute that business.”

The current market that Bon Bon Buddies occupy is not without competition from other organisations.

“We have competitors in various markets and a strong competitor in the UK and competitors in certain other markets in Europe who are reasonably strong,” said Chris.

“But there is no other player in Europe that is as strong across the whole of the continent, both within seasonal and everyday confectionery. Some are good at seasonal, some are country specific and some are good at everyday.

None of our competitors cover the whole gambit, as we do.”

Chris has already taken Bon Bon Buddies to significant success but, as a company who proudly say they lead the way in innovation of this industry sector, what is next for them?

Chris explained: “There are a number of key planks to the growth of the business. One is to consolidate our position in our key European markets and continue to grow our share there in the area of licensed character confectionery.

Number two is to grow into other emerging markets outside Europe, such as China and a couple of others.

Third is to grow our own brands that we are implementing into the marketplace.

20

“The first one of these we launched two years ago, called Brain Blasters, which is doing extremely well. The second product we have just launched is called Nanobytes, which is a very small, chewy, fruity kids’ product. The initial uptake on that has been outstanding. We have a third product being launched in the first quarter of next year, which is called the Bon Bon Buddies. That is an holistic approach to generic novelty candy products.

“The fourth key plank is our development of third-party brands because, while our sales people see our major retailers, we also distribute other brands, which gives us more voice with those buyers. All these things add up to our portfolio.”

So, as a major producer in this sector, how does Chris assess the UK industry in terms of manufacturing?

He said: “In terms of the total confectionery sector, it is still in growth. Our sector, children’s confectionery, is in growth, so it is down to us to make sure we get as much of that growth pie as we can. We are making sure we achieve that by not just having one niche offering but a number of key offerings.”

As a true entrepreneur over two decades, what sort of advice would Chris give to other young budding business owners looking to give their plans a go?

He said: “I would say, first and foremost, work in the area that you want to start up in. Learn from your employer and try and get as much experience as possible from other employers so that when you start on your own you know as much as you possibly can. You have to be an absolute hoover of information, market data and insights. Try to do that, in the initial case, at someone else’s expense.

“Then you have to find an angle, or something that is different which will bring value to the market, whatever that may be. It took me about six months to see the niche and then bring the various pieces together, put a package together which could be compelling to retail.”

And, sat proudly in the Boardroom of Bon Bon Buddies’ Oakdale headquarters, opposite a whole gallery of the company’s products, are pictures and the certificate for their Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

Chris explained how that all came about, saying: “We realised our growth outside the UK was becoming substantial, making up more than 50 per cent of our total revenue. Our finance director suggested we apply for the Queen’s Award. We did and we won it.”

But, as Chris had indicated, Bon Bon Buddies won’t be resting on their laurels and the next chapter of their 20year development is already being written.

For more information about Bon Bon Buddies, go online to: www.bonbonbuddies.com

Are you currently recruiting?

Blue Arrow is one of the UK’s largest recruitment businesses and trusted partner to many high profile clients across various market sectors We currently have fantastic Industrial and Manufacturing candidates available in locations across South Wales. Let us support you with the recruitment of your temporary and permanent staff in the following roles: Cleaners

Shelf Stackers

Grounds Maintenance

Skilled Fitters

Machinists

Warehouse Operatives

Production Operatives

Welders

Semi Skilled Fitters

Contact us today: Blue Arrow Cardiff address: 13 Duke Street Cardiff CF10 1AS call on: 02920 345 566 or email: nicola.gleeson@bluearrow.co.uk Blue Arrow Swansea address: 69 The Kingsway Swansea SA1 5JE call on: 01792 645 521 or email: leigh.davis@bluearrow.co.uk

Manufacturing & Innovation

THE RASPBERRY PI has become a 2013 phenomena that is taking the world by storm. Schools up and down the country are able to use and create computer network systems in their classrooms for just a few pounds due to the new, credit-card sized, mini computer.

Now Sony UK Technology Centre (UK TEC), based in Pencoed and manufacturer of the Raspberry Pi, has seen sales go through the million unit barrier and is aiming to grow even more towards the end of the year.

Since securing the multi-million pound third-party manufacturing deal a year ago the Pencoed-based business has seen the success of the Pi go from strength to strength.

Originally the site was contracted to make 300,000 units for element14, a multichannel electronic distributor which has been selling the innovative device since February, 2012.

However, as demand for the Raspberry Pi has grown exponentially, Sony UK TEC is now producing up to 12,000 units per day. Furthermore, this rapid increase has seen the site employ an additional 40 individuals to cope with the level of demand.

Claire Doyle, global head of Raspberry Pi at element14, said: “We are, of course, delighted to be able to announce the one millionth Raspberry Pi coming off the production line at Sony UK TEC. In just under a year since we signed the deal we have reached a milestone no one thought would be reached in such a short timeframe. But we have worked hard to promote the product and, as such, have been able to capitalise on the success and the popularity of the Raspberry Pi.” Steve Dalton OBE, managing director of Sony UK Technology Centre commented:

22

“The Raspberry Pi is a fantastic example of UK innovation, design and engineering at its best. From the day the product launched we knew the Raspberry Pi would be a success and we wanted to be part of it. We’ve been delighted and staggered by the continuous demand for the Pi across the world and there are no signs of this decreasing any time soon.

“In a little under a year we have created one million units at our site in Pencoed, which has resulted in us generating 40 local jobs. It’s a fantastic achievement, which should be celebrated. The work done by all parties has acted as a significant milestone in the UK manufacturing industry, which ultimately helps to support and grow the UK economy.

“The Raspberry Pi is a testament to the fact that if you have the right product, manufacturer, distribution channels and customer demand any idea can be a huge success. We look forward to continuing our work with element14 and The Foundation and we’re excited about what the future holds for this innovative product.”

The product, which has been developed by non-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation, is designed to stimulate young people’s interest in computer programming and electronics. But it has also been hugely popular with hobbyists and developers.

To celebrate the milestone, Sony UK TEC presented The Raspberry Pi Foundation and element14 with gold plated Raspberry Pis to mark the achievement.

Steve Dalton OBE, managing director, Sony UK Technology Centre.

IN A LITTLE UNDER A YEAR WE HAVE CREATED ONE MILLION UNITS AT OUR SITE IN PENCOED, WHICH HAS RESULTED IN US GENERATING 40 LOCAL JOBS

Manufacturing & Innovation

23

Manufacturing & Innovation

OAKBANK

HELPING SME MANUFACTURERS

A MANUFACTURING recovery is slowly seeping its’ way into Wales and companies that have survived the recession can, we hope, look forward to a rosier future. However, companies need to ensure their processes and systems are correct to keep themselves on an even keel.

If system breakdowns are not spotted and, as a result, are not acted upon, it can turn a growing company on its’ head. In the SME sector, where the demands of meeting customer deadlines are high and the focus is on productivity, those warning signs can sometimes be overlooked.

It is a common thread in the work of Oakbank, a Bridgend manufacturing business consultancy, founded in 2008 by managing director Will Campion, whose aim is to build business skills, confidence and competitiveness.

Will said: “A recurring issue with small businesses is that they don’t recognise the need for external expert support. They know what they are good at and are usually very good at what they do. However, they don’t always notice what they are bad at. That is where, when we can open the door and help them see that, we can make a massive difference.”

And there are many warning signs that SME manufacturers should be wary of or face the consequences.

He added: “The classic for small businesses is delivery times slipping during growth periods. They look at the new clients and don’t look after their current customers.

This is where we can support internal processes to ensure they do not make that mistake. There is nothing worse than fighting for new businesses and forgetting to cultivate the good relationships you already have. That can be a painful experience.

“Businesses need to recognise that something needs to be done. Some of the tell-tale signs can be found by 24

asking simple questions: are margins falling even though sales are up? Are delivery times slipping? Are customer complaints going up? That is an opportunity for us to come in and see what systems businesses are running.

We love to break down internal barriers, whether they be bottlenecks in production, purchasing or financial management.

“Generally there is a low-cost resolution because bringing in different processes, training people and using resources more effectively frees the business to focus on what it is good at. There will come a point when the business has to invest and then we can look externally for other experts, such as in finance or product development.

“We try to build a programme which demonstrates how the payback of work essentially offsets the costs of employing us. We look to ensure that the equation fits well with the business.”

Strong SMEs in good working order play a crucial part in the manufacturing supply chain for major companies; in fact, most are incredibly reliant on them.

Will added: “We are told that 50 per cent of people are employed in small business and the economy is made up of 90 per cent of (SME) businesses. So there does seem to be a balance between jobs in larger businesses and jobs in SMEs. But the reality is the SMEs quite often supply the innovation and back-up to those larger companies.

Manufacturing & Innovation

STAY FIGHTING FIT

“You only have to open the lid on the supply chains of those companies and you will see a long tail of small businesses. Without them those guys can’t succeed. So it is naive to say we should just focus on high-skilled jobs with large companies.”

Many Welsh and UK inventors and entrepreneurs who need a good manufacturer are now looking more towards the UK for their suppliers rather than taking their custom to the other side of the world, which is good news for all Welsh companies.

Will said: “The team work across virtually the whole of South Wales and into the South West of England. What we are seeing in the Bristol area is that the sector is growing and that is expanding into Wales. Cardiff and Swansea are seeing definite growth and that growth is pushing out from those economic hubs to other areas.

Most of the grounding I have is from large business but a lot of the growth I am seeing is from small entrepreneurs, who are saying, ‘I don’t want to make this in the Far East, I want to make it in the UK’. They are then working to find a supplier and hoping that supplier can be competitive.”

If manufacturing in Wales is beginning to grow again it will mean interest from inventors and those with a product to try and go it alone. There is cash available for the right business and idea which could take the world by storm.

However, Will has a few tips for the would-be, first-time manufacturer to ensure he or she does not waste crucial cash chasing a pipe dream that may not become reality.

Just as on television programmes where an angel investor would ask, ‘How much have you spent on this useless product?’, to be met with an answer that can often be many thousands, start-up manufacturers need to think for a long time before they plunge vast quantities of cash into something that may actually be a case of re-inventing the wheel.

Will said: “A good idea is always a good starting point and there is a lot of support in the UK for innovation, developing ideas and protecting intellectual property, which is important for what you are doing. For example, the Wales Economic Growth Fund has big capital investment and a fantastic opportunity to matchfund. That gives companies a starting point to invest in equipment. That is a way to raise funds for finances opportunities.

“But all of these ideas need a sanity check, because if you can’t get funding there is probably a good reason.

There are networks in existence in Wales that support these processes and they force you to look at whether you have done adequate market research and whether people actually want to buy your product. It may be a fantastic product but if people don’t want to buy it nobody is going to invest in it.”

Oakbank offer business reviews, strategic development, market analysis and commercial development for business of all sizes throughout Wales and will work with companies to develop real, lasting business improvements.

For more information about Oakbank go online to: www.oakbank-ltd.co.uk 25

Manufacturing & Innovation

Lead and Manage Effective Teams With just over three million people residing in our Principality and over 40,000 of these working in the manufacturing, innovation and automotive industries, it is now, more than ever, time for SMEs to invest in their people in order to compete on an international platform, according to Lea Halborg, Learning and Development Manager at Really Pro Ltd. In recent years the manufacturing, innovation and automotive industries have undergone major changes but change is afoot as we see shoots of growth in the market.

Lea said: “Success for SMEs looking to secure a place on that commercial stage that is starting to evolve is dependent on managers and leaders working in the sector, how they respond to change and, ultimately, how they develop their workforce.

“The Welsh Government and industry-led support organisations, such as SEMTA and other forums linked to these sectors, have their fingers firmly placed on the button in relation to the key issues and challenges facing these SMEs. What they do is first class and is needed.”

Investment from Welsh Government into the sectors over the past few years has seen support and funding schemes proliferate across the Principality, with a determined focus on meaningful workforce development, promotion of apprenticeships for both young and mature individuals and a resurgence in work-based learning, including foundation degrees, encouraging employees to earn while they learn.

Said Lea: “Now is the time for SMEs in the sector to build and manage effective teams to meet the challenges of the evolving markets in 2014. It’s not a cliché to say that great businesses are led by effective leaders and managers who walk the walk, talk the talk and handle matters in a forward-thinking manner – it is fact.

“The majority of SMEs in the sector see value in investing in Lean, Six Sigma, 5S, FMEA processes to enhance productivity and performance but there is still a lack of investment into leadership, management, communication, conflict and change management training. This is ironic really, because you can have the best systems in the world but if the people running, managing or leading the system lack these essential skills, the process will fail or falter – no matter how much money is put into it.”

The need to engage with SMEs in order to understand the range of workplace dynamics and issues affecting staff on the factory floor through to management is essential in business, Lea said: “No one wants a text book answer or tick box course 26

to solve a matter or learn how to handle a matter. Employers and employees want tailored training and development solutions from someone who has actually worked at the coal face and who understands the industry so they can help them and the business move forward, sideways or around a problem.”

Really Pro boasts this kind of experience and has years of experience working with numerous companies in the manufacturing, engineering and innovation industries. Lea herself was a Young Engineer for Britain in 1994 and has worked in and out of industry, so is keenly aware of the issues of managers, leaders and those on the shop floor.

Lea said: “We work with companies to make a real difference by aligning their staff development strategy to their business goals, with a customised training plan and solutions to match the needs of the business. From top to bottom, we can help a business create a flexible, mobile workforce with multifunctional skills.

“Multi-functional skills are seen in some SMEs where individuals adopt several roles and take on responsibility at varying levels. But, if the sector is to grow and evolve more businesses need to invest in leadership and management training in order to compete on the global stage and compliment this with a working environment and culture that fosters talent and encourages development,” said Lea. Really Pro can help businesses meet the challenges they face with tailored, bespoke training, delivered on or off site, delivered one-to-one, or in a group setting and with competitive rates.

Call Lea or the team on: 07790 770839 07887 427 152 Email: info@reallypro.co.uk

Manufacturing & Innovation

Leadership & Management Courses Strategic Leadership & Management – 2 Day Lead & Supervise Effective Teams – 2 Day Manage & Resolve Conflict – 1 Day Manage & Resolve Change – 1 Day Prioritising Tasks & Managing Time – 1 Day Customer Service Excellence – 1 Day

27

Manufacturing & Innovation

28

Manufacturing & Innovation

FAIL to prepare, then prepare to fail. That is the lesson learnt by Mark Fomison, Director and his 4Matix team in Pontyclun, Mid Glamorgan, which has turned them into one of Wales’ best creative exhibition stand companies. Every year millions of pounds are spent by SMEs up and down the country on exhibition stands.

But, on the day when other people are rushing around panicking to get their stands ready on time, 4Matix are enjoying a cup of coffee in the full knowledge that they and their clients’ exhibition stand is complete and ready to show off.

And it is not just about having a wonderful creation that turns an exhibition from a nervy pitch into a glittering financial success. Mark has learnt the tricks of the trade on how to get the most out of exhibitions, particularly from an SME point of view and create full client ledgers, instead of going home empty handed.

Mark is not adverse to calculated risk taking. He began his business four years ago and was asked to pitch to build a stand for the Welsh Government. After seeing the brief, he was reluctant to make a stand in modular form and would do so only if it was custom built.

“We had a pitch to do for the Welsh Government for the World Skills Event,” said Mark. “When we went in to pitch we found it was for a modular format. We thought, ‘there will be potentially 4,000 teenagers per day using and interacting with the stand. The stand can’t be modular because it needs to be strong and durable. It’s potentially going to take a beating and it must be stable’.

“It was a risk. We were asked to quote for modular but supplied a proposal for custom as it would stand the test of time and be more robust. We have just built the stand for the third time, with small tweaks here and there; and it looks better every time! Probably more than 30,000 teenagers have put their feet on that stand.”

Mark added: “There was so much riding on it because it was a massive event. We delivered and that was the catalyst. You are only as good as your last job and this stand ticked all the boxes. It clearly demonstrated our skillset and as a result helped us pitch for new work. You can definitely win work off the back of a job and this one was no exception.”

There is a manufacturing process that 4Matix go through to ensure the best stands are produced.

Mark added: “It takes quite a long time to prepare a stand.

The stand we have just completed for a large blue chip company took four weeks of preparation to the point where we can load the van tomorrow and not have to worry.

“As an SME considering exhibiting you have to work with an organisation that is prepared to put in high levels of preparation, that takes the time to understand your brand and get under the skin of your organisation. It’s ultimately about trust and partnership. We want to eliminate stress and ensure that the relationship grows and develops. We like to consider the unforeseen and plan for all eventualities.

No sawdust or stress on site, that’s always the objective.”

While 4Matix know their industry back to front, getting the best out of a trade exhibition is not just about having a fantastic stand but also includes the work that goes into utilising it to its’ utmost. Exhibitions are, of course, a great way of marketing a business, getting new trade and making a business visible to potential new customers and clients.

29

Manufacturing & Innovation As 4Matix has grown and Mark’s stands have been commissioned by various companies, he has seen hundreds of exhibitors working their stands correctly and also many who have wondered why they have come away without much new business written in their order books.

Mark, having a sales and marketing background, can see clearly the rights and wrongs of getting the best from an exhibition.

Mark advises: “You have to understand what you are going to get out of it. It is about what you want to achieve. Do you want to sell something from your stands? I have clients whose prime objective is to sell something from their stands.

“Do you want to enhance your brand to get a local or national reach, depending on where that exhibition is? Are you looking to engage with your current suppliers? If so, you invite them along and showcase a new product.

“Then you have to pick the right exhibitions to get the right level of footfall and the right calibre of people. Always, the golden rule is that a stand is a ‘stand’ and not a ‘sit’.

“There could be chairs/stools for your clients at a demo or work station but you need to be working that stand the whole time. If you need to sit down and take a break for an hour, then go somewhere else and let another member of your team work it. Don’t sit down and expect people to come to you because they won’t.”

Having unnecessary clutter or ‘furniture’ on a stand – Mark calls them ‘barriers to entry’ – can also inhibit potential clients from engaging with exhibitors. For large brands, stands and products, such as cars and boats etc., this can work. However, for SMEs with smaller stands, attracting people into your part of the show and on to your stand is the whole reason for being there. So clutter and tiny little differences, like line of sight, are crucial.

Now, having proved themselves to many companies, Mark believes 4Matix can grow larger in the industry.

He said: “One of our clients has been so impressed that he wants to put us through into every show that they organise. So next year could be great. We always focus on the job in hand and, although we know some of what’s around the corner, we are always looking to grow. For us, growth not only comes from an increase in jobs and turnover, it also comes from learning and understanding our industry. We grow with every stand that we produce and will continue to do so.”

Doing a job properly and going that extra mile – or four – makes all the difference.

Mark said: “We have had potential clients call us the day after the end of an exhibition because they’ve seen our work and want to discuss future projects. It’s a massive compliment and great recognition of the effort we put into our work.

“We are now involved with one of the world’s biggest companies, a company worth £38bn. Not bad for a small business in South Wales.”

It’s about the value set at 4Matix. Mark places a large amount of emphasis on traditional business development techniques and that has helped grow the company. Building a business based on trust and recommendations is how it always used to be done and at 4Matix this is no exception.

“A lot of it is based on trust,” said Mark. “When you are entrusting a large amount of spend to a company, you have to be very careful with your choices. All through my career it has been about looking somebody in the eye and categorically delivering on what you say you will. I like it to be based on a strong handshake as, hopefully, you are entering into a relationship that can go on for many years. On the whole, 99 per cent of the time our business is done on that basis and I would very much like that to continue.”

30

For more information about

4Matix

and to see some of their bespoke stands,

go online to:

www.4matix.co.uk

Manufacturing & Innovation

31

Life Sciences & Medical

LI Fe SCI En CES SUCCESS BELIEVES LIFE-SCIENCE ENTREPRENEUR SIR CHRIS EVANS WALES has never had a better opportunity for SMEs to reap massive benefits from the life sciences sector than right now, believes the Principality’s leading entrepreneur in the industry, Professor Sir Christopher Evans, as a new era of the industry begins to take shape here.

The creation of Innovation Hubs, a new Life Science Investment Fund, inward investment from companies and major players on the global stage looking towards the Principality have created exciting times and opportunities for the future. Add the advancement of support to help start-ups and growth enterprises and the life-science sector is far superior to when Sir Chris started on his business road more than 20 years ago.

Sir Chris’ journey has seen him become Europe’s top medical science entrepreneur, building over £5bn of new medical companies in the past 20 years, with several of those businesses, many built from scratch, becoming world leaders in the fields of stem-cell technology and cancer research and prevention, to name just a few.

Yet, despite being a global pioneer the Port Talbot-born businessman has Wales at heart and truly believes the Principality’s entrepreneurs can follow in his footsteps, if they have the same business belief and principles as he has shown towards the life sciences industry as he has.

To that end, a Welsh Government-backed Life Science Hub is being built in Cardiff Bay to provide the focal point for the industry’s brightest talent, with extensive networking

32

and ideas that could elevate Wales to the top. The Hub will give these SMEs the opportunity to shoot for their dreams.

And the desire to make Wales a global nation in life science could see a share of that enormous financial pot brought to the Welsh nation.

Sir Chris said: “The bottom line for me is to lift Wales right up the curve in the world.

We are barely in the top 50 nations in life science and my aim is to get Wales into the top 10 through creation of value and worldleading technology and products.”

Like every successful entrepreneur who has come up via the hard route of starting from scratch, Sir Chris has ultimate belief in everything he does. He had that belief 26 years ago when he began his very first company with the biggest risk of his life – although it did not seem so at the time.

He said: “I started my first company, Enzymatix, in 1987; it was Europe’s first biotechnology company. I started it from nothing . I didn’t have anything at all for it, not even a bank account. You hear a lot of businessmen say they mortgaged their house to get their company started. Well, I didn’t mortgage the house. I went the full monty and sold everything – the house, the contents and everything I had in my life to buy my first laboratory.

“When I look back, I was either very stupid or very brave or just brimming with selfbelief. As it was, it turned out well; but I wouldn’t advise people to do it. It was in the days when there were no Business Angels or Venture Capitalists to put money into an

SME. Banks would not invest either, but I always had a lot of confidence and you have to have self belief in an enterprise to make it work. I was so confident I was doing the right thing that my wife hardly said anything when I told her how I was going to raise the finance as she too felt confident I would just get on and do it!”

He added: “If you understand what you are doing, I don’t think you bat an eyelid.”

In 1992 Sir Chris split Enzymatix into several companies, including Chiroscience and Celsis, which went on to grow to over £1bn in value. He formed Merlin Biosciences Ltd in 1996, which, in turn, produced very successful companies such as Biovex and Vectura, again worth over £1bn. By the turn of the millennium his companies were selling £200m worth of new products every year.

Sir Chris began his lifelong love of this branch of science with a degree in microbiology from Imperial College, London, in 1979 and went on to gain a PhD in lipid biochemistry from the University of Hull, before receiving a research fellowship from the University of Michigan, USA. He added: “In Wales we seem to wrap ourselves in red tape, but Welsh people are creative people and, in life sciences, we have to be very creative.

“You have to be bold and take a risk and be prepared for failure. You have to be able to run as fast as you can. Unfortunately, there is too much beaurocracy and dithering in Wales.

Life Sciences & Medical “Wales is not very big and you have the universities in Cardiff and Swansea accounting for 90 per cent of all life science research in Wales. The Welsh Government has been fantastic. Carwyn Jones (First Minister) and Edwina Hart (Minister for Business) have been extremely supportive in committing and investing time and resources; but really it comes down to people.

“There needs to be a culture of investing and setting up these companies, which then link into the Government and those universities.

They have to have a ‘can do’ attitude. Wales can do this and I see the SME sector as very important to the life-science sector; and we have some very good ones!

“The reason why I did it all myself 30 years ago was that there was nobody around to invest in me.

Today it is very different. SMEs in Wales can now access 10 or 20 people who can help. It is fundamentally better, but it needs people to open their eyes. I would urge Welsh companies and people in my industry to step up and do it.

In the next five years there will not be any better time.”

ReNeuron is an example of a business that Sir Chris has invested in to help develop the growing work of stem-cell research.

This research is important as this new revolutionary branch of medicine builds. It is important because stems cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the body during early life and growth. In addition, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person or animal is alive. Therefore, they could be crucial in the future for the treatment of such conditions as stroke or diabetes.

Sir Chris said: “The exciting things about that company coming to Wales is, not only is it bringing a major part of the stem-cell industry here, but we have brought £25m of cash investment with it from London and three or four of the most influential investors in life sciences in the world are coming here as well.

“That is what I am trying to do; creating this awareness of Wales.

Wales has been weak on the financial side of things. On ideas, Wales has been very good, but it has not been able to marry it with money. So it is really important that we open our eyes a bit and get into the big, wide world. No one better exemplifies this get-up-andgo attitude than Cardiff’s Professor Chris McGuigan, who developed and sold one of his recent new medicines for £2.5bn. The Cardiff Cancer and Neuroscience Hub is also an excellent creative example of how focus on life sciences now will lead to success.”

Sir Chris’ commitment to this in Wales is enhanced by the new Life Science Investment Fund, managed by his company, Arthurian Life Sciences. This – and the Innovation Hub – will place Wales right at the cutting edge of the sector in the UK. He added: “Life Sciences is important because, to succeed, yes, you have to make money, but you also have to make something really positive for human beings that will improve life for many, many people.

“For me, the biggest breakthrough has been in medical science. We will always see breakthroughs in IT and, doubtless, phones will get smaller, as will tablet (computers).

But all this technology is no good if your health is failing. In medical science the era of stem cells and regenerative medicine will be very exciting. It will be really something in terms of human kind so that we will live longer and have higherquality lives.”

Merlin Biosciences Ltd was eventually succeeded by Excalibur Ltd and now invests capital into a number of biotech and life-sciences companies across Europe.

“When I look back on my career and see the products I have helped develop in the fields of stem cell research, cancer and whatever, it makes me feel really good. If I had my time over again, apart from playing rugby for Wales and scoring the winning try against England to win the Grand Slam, I would not change a thing.”

For more information about Prof Sir Chris Evans, go online to: www.excalibur-group.co.uk 33

Life Sciences & Medical

En Ri

FROM a tiny room at the side of Professor Chris McGuigan’s office at the Redwood Building, Cardiff University, came a $2.5bn idea. He is the self-confessed ‘Drug Hunter’, who aims to track down the medicines which will help people live longer and enjoy better lives as a result.

This sort of sum typifies the scale of commercialisation that the life-science industry creates on the global markets, and Wales now has every opportunity to leave a massive footprint on the sector, in which SMEs are a crucial and integral part.

The new “One Stop Shop” within the Principality is designed to be a focal point for this enormous Welsh business presence in the world.

The National Research Network in Health and Life Sciences is backed by Welsh Government and its Minister for Business, Edwina Hart. It aims to enhance and build on Wales’s research capacity in Life Sciences, to attract world-leading scientists and their teams and to support the establishment of a National Research Network (NRN) involving Cardiff, Aberystwyth, Bangor and Swansea Universities.

Moreover, the massive investment being made in the sector is aimed at businesses and how they can make money out of the sector. And that means big money!

The stakes are high, but the potential rewards from the Welsh Government’s Life Science Hub in Cardiff Bay – in conjunction with Ser Cymru (a £14m Life Science NRN programme recently announced) and the Arthurian Life Sciences Investment Fund, whose board contains many highly-influential names in the sector’s field – are way beyond the initial investments.

However, it requires that Welsh Life Science companies and entrepreneurs become very savvy and knowledgeable in the ways of business. As with all sectors of industry, many entrepreneurs in SMEs will get an idea and pursue it with a hands-on approach, without really understanding the business side of their organisation.

34

That is why major partners are being recruited from all sectors of industry to bring influence, innovation and practical help to those people who have the ideas, but not necessarily the business kudos, to take it to a level where they will make revenue – in potentially staggering amounts.

In only a matter of months – March 2014 – the new Life Sciences Hub, a 12,000sq ft space on the banks of Cardiff Bay, alongside The Senedd, will be open for business and already, says Prof McGuigan, chair of the Hub Working Group and also chair of the Ser Cymru Life science NRN, interest has been incredible.

Prof McGuigan, whose speciality is medicinal chemistry, with a particular interest in drug discovery, explained: “This emerged from the Life Science Sector Panel, one of a number of sector panels which Mrs Hart set up. She was incredibly clever, smart and lucky to secure Sir Chris Evans, who is Europe’s leading bio-entrepreneur, with multiple spin-offs and successes.

“I was co-opted onto the panel two years ago and it has been incredibly active. It looked across the piste of Welsh life sciences.

You will know that life science in Wales is very active, but generally very small.

“It is the S end of SME. There are a few exceptions, such as GE (General Electric), but the majority are small. In particular, the sector is very disparate, being spread geographically across the whole of Wales, which does not make it easy. and spread across a whole range of different sectors of health care, with a little in the pharmaceutical sector, quite a bit in diagnostics and a lot in devices.

“I think the thing that struck Sir Chris, myself and others on the panel was just how fragmented it was. These small companies, spread all over Wales, can’t be experts in every aspect of life science or life-science business, and if you went to them with any question, such as, ‘what does the patent box mean for me’, many of them would not know.

“So the notion of the Hub was to build one physical space – not a website, but a physical space – where we can have this “one stop shop” for life sciences.”

Life Sciences & Medical

“IT HAS ALSO INSPIRED US TO DO WORK IN THE CANCER ARENA. WE HAVE ANOTHER DRUG WHICH HAS JUST FINISHED PHASE ONE TRIALLING IN LATE-STAGE CANCER PATIENTS AND IS SHOWING ENORMOUS PROMISE.” Ser Cymru aims to create up to 80 PhD graduates and 20 Fellows through the quartet of Universities involved between 2014 and 2019, whilst collaborating with industry to create, with the Innovation Hub and the Arthurian Fund, a commerciallydriven ‘melting pot’ of talent in Wales. This will also be available to use for people involved in the Welsh Government, the National Health Service, Intellectual Property businesses, clinicians, academics and many more.

Prof McGuigan added: “The notion for the Hub is, if you are a life-science business, you have to be there. Not necessarily permanently, but it is a place you would have to visit.”

However, the enormity of the lifescience sector cannot necessarily be accommodated in Wales at one hub.

Prof McGuigan said: “The sector is vast in terms of the different stages of developments. Drugs take, typically, 13 years from conception to getting on the market; it is a long period. There are many

types of person involved: patent agents, patent lawyers, financial people, chemists, biologists, all the way through to clinicians and the NHS. It is a very long and very diverse process – and so it should be.

“However, there are certain elements that are key to whatever you do in life science.

Just one example, a clear one, is finance. It costs £1.2bn to get one drug from discovery to approval. The sums are huge. So every step of the way, you have to constantly finance, licence and bring in money.

“Wales has not historically been financed well for life science. With the advent of the Arthurian Life Science Fund it is much better served. The Hub will be the home of the Arthurian Fund and of other life science funders, such as Finance Wales. Therefore, if you want finance in life science, you can come to the Hub and pitch to Arthurian and others.

“They are going to fund the minority. You have to have a good pitch, but they will be there. You don’t have to go to New York, as I have done, you don’t have to go to Edinburgh, as I have done, you don’t even have to go to London. You come to the Hub.”

The enormous numbers that can be achieved are one thing but, not underplaying the tremendous support of Mrs Hart and the Welsh Government, the investment made in Wales, £100m – 50 per cent of which is match-funded from a Welsh Government input – is not a great percentage of the overall wealth that could be achieved.

In all industries there is a trial and error ratio and, within the life-science sector, that is particularly so. The billions of pounds that can be spent on new life-changing drugs or processes, such as Stents for open heart valves in cardiac attack or deep vein thrombosis patents, can be offset by reducing the error factor and then reaping the rewards of the successes.

Prof McGuigan explained: “If you take it in terms of getting a drug approved, that is correct. But the vast majority of the cost of that is through failures. If, with the Hub and Ser Cymru, we can reduce the chances of failure and increase the chances of success, then it won’t cost us so much. It only costs so much due to failures.

35

Life Sciences & Medical “We will try and concentrate clinicians, academics, all of the elements that make it up, and try to filter out as many of the failures as we can early on so that the cost of one medicine will be less than currently.

through to zoology, prevents work in Wales covering all these bases. If it tried, the resources would be so stretched they would be scatter-gunned and little of substance would be achieved.

“Even in pharmaceuticals, the vast majority of time you are not spending a fraction of that and the value added can be enormous.

There are clear points where the value of your asset goes up.

However, just concentrating on one sector, for instance, creating the next great cancer drug, would not be the best way of using the resources available through the National Research Network or the Arthurian Fund.

“For example, a number of years ago my lab invented a Hepatitis C drug. Hepatitis C infects 160 million people, four times as many as HIV. It infects three per cent of the world’s population, a big, big market. All the drug companies in the world are after an effective treatment for this disease.

And Prof McGuigan admitted: “We are opportunistic. Sitting on the Arthurian board with Sir Chris we are swamped with opportunities. There is an enormous, untapped potential in Wales because the funding has not been here. Frankly, some of them would be rubbish. The science would be rubbish or the business would be rubbish; they can’t progress. A few will be fantastic. We have already invested in two, there are others pending and another dozen or so in various stages. There is no shortage of potential, the difficulty is in choosing the winners, which is what we are trying to do.

“We invented, at my desk and made in my lab in Cardiff, the most powerful direct acting anti-Hep C agent ever discovered. In 18 months we progressed from four people in my lab to dosing the first human with the drug. Starting a project to a first dosing in that time scale is incredibly quick. We did that with around £1m of finance from the USA. “This was all US-driven and was preArthurian. The end was that we were on the stock market in America – the NASDAQ – and they raised in total around £99m, from investors on the open market. At that point, we were bought out for $2.5bn. On the Friday night shareholders were buying stock for $7 a share and when they came in on the Monday we were selling for $26. That is real value-added for investors and that started with a bit of paper, a lab in Cardiff, four people and about a million in investment.

“So, you don’t need huge amounts of money to begin with. Clearly, if you fail, that is the end of the road, the investment has not succeeded. But what we are trying to do within this landscape of Ser Cymru, the Hub and the Fund is to increase the chances of success and retain the asset a bit longer in Wales and reap some value here.

“My lab has had three molecules progress from here in academia, to patients. It is a pivotal step. Not many academic labs have done that and we have had three. It has taken a long time and a lot of investment but I hope, by doing this drug discovery in Wales, it will concentrate expertise and we can just nudge the chance of success a bit better than from one in 100,000.”

The enormity of the Life Science sector, which can stretch from such disciplines as affective neuroscience and anatomy 36

“It will not be in one sphere. To date, Arthurian have invested in an established Welsh clinical trials company in Merthyr and a very high-end – controversial, in a sense – company doing stem-cell injections into stroke patients’ brains.

“That second company is ReNeuron. We are moving them to Wales, but we were triple over-subscribed by London over the Welsh Government investment. They are enormously popular and their share price went up immediately we did that deal.

“The third investment will be in a company in phase two clinical trials in another area of traditional pharma. I am certain we will make investments in devices in diagnostics and be across the range of projects and diseases. I am sure oncology will figure highly. Neuroscience will figure highly, because there is big expertise in Wales and there is clearly medical need there because we are not currently treating any aspect of neurology well. Infectious disease is also constantly a problem for us. I am sure there will be investments in all of these.”

Prof McGuigan emphasised, though, that the Hub was a business catalyst to develop Welsh SMEs and larger companies and not a lab-based centre. Those are available throughout Wales at various academic and other institutions.

“You have to remember that the Hub is a business hub which is there to help Welsh business,” said Prof McGuigan. “It is not ostensibly about getting new drugs and new treatments. If we help a Welsh business and it progresses further than it would have done – if it then does a licence deal and the drug ends up with, for example,

GlaxoSmithKline and progresses there too – then, brilliant, as we have helped Welsh business.

“If we can create jobs and help business in Wales, I have ticked the box. It is what the Hub is about and what Arthurian is about.

But we are unlikely to say in a year’s time that the Hub has led to this new drug. It will take longer that. What we will be able to say, though, is that the Hub has brought together businesses and those businesses have flourished in Wales, that would not otherwise have done. Assets have been retained in Wales a little longer, jobs have been created, we have trained people and taxes have been paid in Wales. We will be able to say that and health care would have improved.

“Working in a global marketplace, it is tough, although not impossible, to be a manufacturer. Wales – and First Minister (Carwyn Jones) has said this – has to nail its flag to the white hot furnace of innovation. That is the only place in which Wales can largely make its business. We have a highly-trained population in Wales in life sciences, with four excellent universities all working in this area.

We have the ability to be seriously innovatory. The First Minister has said we need to do this and I am fully aligned with him on this.

“We can have enormous value-added and significant high-quality jobs created in this area.”

The massive extent of innovation within the life science sector, said Prof McGuigan, is summed up by one drug, Lipitor. The cholesterol-reducing tablet was nearly never produced as it was considered, by those who judge these things, as an ‘alsoran’ in medicine. It was the fifth drug in a group of statins which are used to lower cholesterol. However, in 1996 a study showed that Lipitor reduced cholesterol more than any other statin from the very start of treatment and even more so over time. Now it is the global market leader, earning billions of pounds every year and earning the nickname of ‘Turbostatin’.

Prof McGuigan said: “Lipitor is now, ounce for ounce, more expensive than gold and it is produced from agents that cost pennies. The reason why we have to pay the equivalent of gold dust for Lipitor is because of the innovation. It is a smart idea and it is patented.

Life Sciences & Medical

En Ri

“Let’s say you invented another Lipitor tomorrow and you did not adequately patent and protect it. Across the world, other companies in China or India could make it – and maybe make it cheaper. If you have no patent protection there is nothing you can do about it. So it is critical that your idea is patent protected and it is one area of the Hub which will be really important, that any small or big life-science company can walk into the Hub and get free patent advice, get free financial advice and speak to the best people in the business so they can set themselves up for the biggest chance of success.”

This is specifically apt for the Welsh SME community in this sector. Prof McGuigan added: “No small business can take a drug to market, it is too costly. So at some point, they have to licence or be acquired. That is how the business operates. Big industry is increasingly looking to others to do the innovation, to do the discovery, to take the early risks. Then big industry is very good at the late, expensive clinical trials.

From my own life, my Hepatitis C asset

was purchased for two-and-a-half billion sterling. The numbers just tell you how this business is. We did this with four people on a million of investment and sold it for $2.5bn. The chances of success then were one-in-two. The company thought they would sell about $30bn of drug. It was, therefore, an investment of $2.5bn to make $30bn.

“The drug failed at phase three. The company which bought it had to write off $2.5bn – and that is the nature of the business. If you have deep pockets, it is a good business to be in. But for all of those trained scientists, the university and the other players, it was an enormous success to get to that point. The asset has failed but the technology is going forward with another company.

“It has also inspired us to do work in the cancer arena. We have another drug which has just finished phase one trialling in late-stage cancer patients and is showing enormous promise.”

For more information about the Arthurian Fund, go online to: www.arthurianlifesciences.co.uk

A major life-science hub, that invests in late-stage technologies that are no more than 18 months to two years from market, opened last year in Northern Ireland, but that is completely different to the new Hub and NRN that all the parties are working on for Wales. It will be exciting to see new developments brought into the Hub by SMEs looking for a breakthrough in the business.

Wales will be taking a huge step on the global ladder with the initiative and, said Prof McGuigan, it will achieve the aims of jobs and growth.

He added:

“Across the world, £85bn is spent every year on drug discovery. The world invents 15 drugs, £1.3bn a drug. It is ludicrously inefficient and if Wales could get one, that would be phenomenally punching above our weight.”

For the Welsh National Research Network in Health and Life sciences: http://www.cf.ac.uk/phrmy/staffinfo/CMG/LSN/LSN/NRN.html For the Life Sciences HUB Wales: http://www.cf.ac.uk/phrmy/staffinfo/CMG/HUB/Index/HUB.html

37

Life Sciences & Medical

En HANCING THE STUFF OF LI Fe THE MEDICAL breakthroughs likely to be made over the coming years in protein engineering will be as significant, if not more so, than that of DNA, believes Welsh businessman Dr Jonathan Ryves.

Where the breakthrough in DNA technology brought to the fore the strands of molecular life inside every living cell, that is merely the ‘library of construction plans’ compared to the actual proteins that the cells make, which are the engine in the boiler house and the essence of a functioning body.

Developments and breakthroughs in protein technology could see enormous growth in the ability to eradicate diseases and disability in the human body, as well as those in the animal kingdom; but they are many years – and maybe decades – away.

For now it is simply a case of being able to break into the cellular structure and deliver the proteins, antibodies and virus killers that could make issues such as diabetes, autism, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease things of the past.

These are what have driven Dr Ryves to change course from the world of academia to the commercial sector in his desire to develop the ‘drill’ of amino acids which can penetrate cells and take the potentially lifesaving molecules to the proteins that make up that cell.

It is cutting-edge work for Dr Ryves, chief executive of Cupid Peptides, who are based at the Cardiff MediCentre, next to the University of Wales Hospital, The Heath, Cardiff.

38

Said Dr Ryves:

“Cupid Peptides are creating a totally new technology experience for scientists across the world. It may be a big aim but I want one of my peptides in every lab that does biochemistry and cell culture in the world. That is my goal.

“Essentially, what we do is manufacture unique reagents on a monthly basis. The new term for what I am doing is Proteomics.

That means I am creating tools to map the interactions between proteins. That is the coalface and the next great ‘Black Box’ of the biological world.

“That is what we are going to sort out this century. Last century it was DNA. That totally opened the door to proteins.

We are all built of proteins. DNA is just a library in the corner of every cell and does little else; it is the data storage.

That is, essentially, what DNA is, really.

“The things that do all the work and is what you are – the structure, the function, all the interactions that go on, like the effect of adrenaline, a heartbeat or shedding a tear – are proteins interacting. What my company does is make small pieces of the same protein and attach them to our ‘drill’. Then you can get the protein into cells, which is the big difficultly.

“Cells are selectively permeable to proteins and they like to regulate their entry. The

membrane is like a ‘Border Control’ and it doesn’t let anything in that the cells don’t want to. Our Cupid drill gets past these borders.”

In the future, large pharmaceutical companies with big budgets will develop Dr Ryves’ work further commercially. For the moment, he is concentrating on the research.

For example, there are more than 200 proteins involved in diabetes – and they are just the ones we know about.

Said Dr Ryves:

“Each protein might have five interactions, so, suddenly we could multiply 200 by five, and then you see there are more than 1,000 protein to protein interactions. One of those protein interactions could be a fantastic drug target, but we are only just getting into that jungle and clearing the way. That is what my peptides will be doing, giving people a new tool to clear the way.”

Peptides (which are described as short chains of amino acid monomers linked by peptide bonds) and their research is an enormous subject for a small business to concentrate on fully. So how does Dr Ryves combines this research with running the more mundane business side of Cupid Peptides?

He admits to looking to see what the most lucrative business field is, rather than, “concentrating on some product which will cure a slightly itchy toenail when I have to sell it”.

Life Sciences & Medical

He added: “It might be an intellectual challenge to find a cure for something like that but it is not going to be financially viable. I am concentrating on things like cancer and stem cells. Cancer is already huge and has a great effect on humanity; and stem cells is something that is coming up and I want to be involved with that.”

Both of those areas – cancer and stem cell research – are high on the Welsh Life Science agenda.

Dr Ryves said:

“What I am doing is trying to identify targets. My products are totally natural pieces of protein which are based on human DNA and they should only interact as nature designed them.

“But you have not destroyed the protein and you haven’t affected anything other than that interaction. But, with 20,000 proteins it is going to be a big job.

“In terms of how long it takes? Well, I took one protein, did a little thinking and, six weeks later, I had four products to use. That is how quick it is.”

His research on the ‘drill’ while an academic was working; but it was not possible to commercialise that work.

He said:

“You can report on it but that’s all you can do. I checked to see if anyone else had done work on this and they hadn’t. So the pieces started falling into place.

Another factor was that the recession hit and there was redundancy. I wondered where I was going to go as a Post-Doc (Post-Doctoral Researcher).

“As a Post-Doc you are the steam ship engine. The Professor is the captain and he has a full-time job; but your job is not secure. I have been on five Post-Docs in my career and I have moved around a bit. I was in London but then I came to Cardiff and I wanted to stay.”

Going into business after such a long time in the academic world was a real risk. However, when an entrepreneur has the desire, hunger and faith to succeed, they are already on the way to winning.

The Life Science industry in Wales is looking at SMEs like Cupid Peptides in the future, as Sir Chris Evans and Prof Chris McGuigan have said, and the rewards for hitting the ‘jackpot’, are beyond measure. However, people like Dr Ryves are those who will make the initial hard yards that, in future, could bring extensive rewards.

Dr Ryves added: “The desire was there. The conditions were right.

I was faced with a period of redundancy. I had the choice to find another job or start my own business; so I decided the time was now. I had found my own drill, I had perfected the techniques, I had made 50 peptides, which I was really excited about and now I have streamlined the process down to six weeks. Now I can start making tools that nobody has even heard of.”

For Dr Ryves, though, it is a very exciting time. He has now stepped into the entrepreneurial world from academia and said the reason for that was he became ‘hooked’ on the ‘drill’ product.

And who is to say that, from his lab in Cardiff, Dr Ryves will not perfect a product that is the next step in the world-wide medical revolution?

Watch this space!

For further information about Cupid Peptides, go online to: www.cupidpeptides.com 39

Life Sciences & Medical

BIOWALES 2014 HIG H L IG H TS BU OYANT L I F E SCI ENCES SECTOR The BioWales international life sciences showcase at the magnificent Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, on March 6 and 7, 2014, is one of the UK’s most vibrant events for this sector – and it reflects the strength of an industry in Wales that contains over 300 companies, employing more than 15,000 people and contributing in excess of £1.3bn to the country’s economy.

The Welsh Government event, that comprises a conference, exhibition, partnering and gala dinner, is set to attract a large attendance, with the conference programme reflecting upon a thriving life sciences and medical sector in Wales. The focus is on growth and delivery within life sciences and on opportunities and support available to new investors and established companies in the Principality.

BioWales 2014 will be followed by the opening of the Life Sciences Hub Wales during summer 2014. The hub will stimulate interaction, innovation, networking and collaboration, with the primary aim of facilitating jobs and investment to accelerate the growth of life sciences in Wales.

BioWales features an international line up of

40

industry experts and investors in life sciences covering, amongst other topics, advances in Regenerative Medicine and Diagnostics.

This is a hot subject of research in today’s life sciences that offers promising options for the future treatment of some major diseases, such as cancer, nervous system diseases, damaged organs and degenerative diseases.

For businesses and investors, BioWales presents a fantastic opportunity to network and develop commercial opportunities, to partner up with like-minded organisations in pre-arranged one-to-one meetings designed to investigate access to investment from proven players in the sector – and to do business.

Professor Gareth Morgan, Chairman of the Life Sciences Sector Panel in Wales, said: “BioWales 2013 was the most successful conference yet and we have even bigger plans for next year, looking to attract more than 600 delegates with a first-class programme of industry figures.

“The sector is thriving in Wales, with our new Life Sciences Hub due to be up and running in Cardiff Bay during 2014 to be a focal point

for the sector and the chance for international businesses to see what an enviable set-up we have in Wales. It will also give organisations here an opportunity to capitalise on BioWales’ global context to investigate the choices available for financing and enhancing their own businesses.”

The brand new Life Sciences Hub Wales is a direct result of the new strategy for life sciences by the Welsh Government focussing on the establishment of a £100m Life Sciences Investment Fund to develop the life sciences eco-system in Wales, and a central Hub to connect and grow all areas of life sciences and showcase our capabilities to a global audience.

The Life Sciences Hub Wales will provide a concentrated focal point for all organisations involved in the life sciences sector in Wales.

It will offer a gateway for Welsh companies and inward investors to integrated advice, support and potential funding and a physical space for events and networking. Johnson & Johnson Innovation has just signed up as the Hub’s first private sector tenant to work with entrepreneurs and academics to develop early stage research.

Life Sciences & Medical

The sector is thriving in Wales, with our new Life Sciences Hub due to be up and running in Cardiff Bay during 2014 to be a focal point for the sector and the chance for international businesses to see what an enviable set-up we have in Wales.

Professor Chris McGuigan, Chair Task and Finish Group, Life Sciences Hub Wales and Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cardiff University, said: “The Life Sciences Hub Wales represents a major commitment by the Welsh Government to this sector. Along with the £100m Life Sciences Investment Fund, this will place Wales firmly on the world stage as being open for business in this key sector.”

The £100m investment fund was actually announced at the BioWales 2011 event and is managed by Arthurian Life Sciences, chaired by biotech entrepreneur Professor Sir Chris Evans OBE. The fund invests in life sciences and related medical, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies currently based in Wales and also in companies from across the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, where such investment will bring meaningful developmental and economic benefit to Wales.

With BioWales 2014 in sight, the stage is set for a great conference and exhibition. The conference programme will be announced shortly, but already includes some significant names in the industry, such as Kieran Murphy, President and CEO Life Sciences of GE Healthcare, a $1.8bn worldclass business that provides pharmaceutical companies, government organisations and academia with a wide range of technologies and services for cell biology and protein research and for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals, such as recombinant proteins, antibodies and vaccines.

Other programme speakers include Patrick E Verheyen, Head of the Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centre in London, an organisation dedicated to identifying, fostering and onboarding early-stage science, technology and products to Johnson & Johnson businesses in the Pharmaceutical, Consumer and Medical Devices and Diagnostics sectors.

Last, but by certainly no means least, Lord Hutton, the former UK Health Secretary will be present.

Lord Hutton is known for his experience, whilst holding a range of Ministerial appointments during his political career, including Minister of State for Health (1999-2005), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office (2005) and Secretary of State Defence (2008-09).

In 2013 Lord Hutton became a Special Adviser to PricewaterhouseCoopers and this year also became a non-executive Director of Arthurian Life Sciences Ltd, which manages the Wales Life Sciences Investment Fund.

BioWales 2014 is set to place Wales on the map with a prestigious programme and international exhibition featuring more than 45 organisations against the backdrop of the Wales Millennium Centre .

For further information about the event, or to review the early bird registration offers, please go online to: www.biowales.com

41

Life Sciences & Medical

INSTITUTE OF LIFE SCIENCE A RO U TE TO THE MEDI CAL FU T U RE

WE are generally amazed at the advancements in medical science. They seem almost akin to science fiction in their wonder when they are developed. From small things, like a clear plastic to stick to the skin and prevent unsightly scars to immense breakthroughs in the search for major illness or disease cures all take many years from the drawing board to practical implementation.

42

Life Sciences & Medical The first heart transplant in 1967, by Dr Christiaan Barnard in South Africa, could not have been completed without the technology of an artificial heart to keep patients alive during the surgery or to enable the heart of the donor to be taken to the operating theatre and placed into the body of Dr Barnard’s patient, grocer Louis Washkansky.

Mr Washkansky died 18 days later from double pneumonia after the drugs used to stop rejection of the new organ nullified his immune system.

Since that historic transplant, though, research and development on anti-rejection drugs has increased beyond comprehension and now many people world-wide are walking around with someone else’s heart in their body – and living normal lives again.

Without the research and development in medicine, limb amputees would still be walking around with wooden legs rather than the carbon fibre limbs that now see paralympic athletes competing in the same races as able-bodied men and women.

And where will this technology lead us? To the cure of the common cold? Maybe not, as strains mutate. However, if it were possible, Wales would try to be at the forefront of that discovery.

Since 2007, Swansea University has been home to the Institute of Life Science (ILS), where the latest work is being done on innovations in the world of stem-cell technology that, for example, can help with the formation of new bone marrow for sufferers of Leukaemia, once a death sentence to anybody unfortunate enough to contract the cancerous, bone-centred disease.

The Institute of Life Science at Swansea has grown to a position where it now has two buildings alongside each other and works in collaboration with many public and privatesector organisations, such as Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and other major funding bodies.

Dr Gareth Davies, project manager at the College of Medicine, Institute of Life Science, explained how significant it was to the medical world that such a facility existed in the Principality.

He said: “The ILS is the Research and Innovation arm of the College of Medicine here at Swansea University. Historically Wales has had one school of medicine, in Cardiff, and that grew to two with the second here in Swansea, due to the need for medics in Wales and the growth of Life Sciences research and innovation. Alongside that was a growing agenda in life science research at Swansea, from the medical to the biological and that was coupled with the backgrounds of the strengths we have here in biological sciences, clinical practice and engineering.

“Across five floors of our buildings we have dedicated facilities for laboratories and for collaboration with SMEs and larger companies.

We also have incubation facilities on the ground

floor, including indigenous start-up companies and inward investors.

“The leadership of the College saw strengths in many areas, such as diabetes, health informatics, toxicology, microbiology, genetics and cancer research. Each of these has a floor with a dedicated interest. We still are one of the fastestgrowing colleges of medicine in the UK but our unique selling point has been the translation of innovation and the impact our research has in terms of the economy, jobs, enterprise, and, of course, the impact it has with benefits to health.

“We work closely with colleagues across the road at Singleton Hospital and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board, and they have been joined at the hip with us throughout our journey. ILS1 was a great success in that it achieved the objectives for which it was funded by the EU, and the current project, ILS2, is delivering further significant impact. We are primarily focused in the West Wales convergence area to the west of Bridgend to deliver the regional benefits of this work, though, in terms of international collaboration, we work with a vast range of international research organisations, companies and other stakeholders.

Kevin Fernquest, business development manager at ILS, added that business had a major part to play in driving the discoveries onwards.

Without those, major breakthroughs would not become commonplace. Breakthroughs such as keyhole surgery, for example, before the advent of which patients could expect extensive scarring from the simplest operations.

Kevin said: “It is important that we have collaboration between the NHS, academia and industrial partners to ensure we produce an end result, which is to convert some of this wonderful research into positive patient outcomes and influence the next generation of treatments.

“In the life Sciences, the gestation period from a concept through to commercialisation can typically take up to 10 years. We have engaged with a large number of key stakeholders from industry, academia and the NHS to ease this process. It’s about forming a cluster that keeps on growing and converting these wonderful ideas into commercial opportunities.”

Innovation is the key to the Institute of Life Science, as the ehi2 project proves. So, rather like a business angel, does the ILS have many hundreds of potential ‘life saving’ inventions sent to them?

Kevin said: “We receive a large number of enquiries from start-up companies asking for assistance in linking them to expertise within our stakeholder community. We get a lot of larger companies, academics and lone inventors with ideas. We try to assess every idea and, where possible, link them with the relevant partner to grow the project. We are currently incubating 14 different companies on-site and working with scores of enterprises across the region, developing a wide range of products, from implantable medical devices through to wound dressings. We are actively seeking new ideas and innovations.”

The ILS has links with many local, national and international organisations, such as Johnson and Johnson, GE Healthcare, SONY, IBM and Siemens.

Dr Gareth Davies added: “It is important we stress the breadth of companies we work with. As well as having very technology-focussed SME startups, there are also the wider specialist services.

An example at the micro-business end is the one-man band consultant with specialist clinical expertise, but consistent across all enterprises is that they have a business perspective to what they do and can play a critical role in the Life Science ecosystem.

“It is about bringing these things together, which, for example, involves a clinician developing a medical device or service, which then leads to the entrepreneur bringing in their specialist expertise in commercialisation and then, potentially, a relevant patent attorney/specialist and finance advice. This is where ILS comes in, to try to assist, broker, facilitate and realise innovations.”

The next steps in the development of globallylucrative, yet life-changing drugs, inventions and marvels are just around the corner and some SME or entrepreneur out there may have the idea that will change the world. So if the ILS in Swansea can help, they want to hear from you!

For more information on the Institute of Life Science at Swansea University, go online to: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/medicine/enterpriseandinnovation/ 43

Life Sciences & Medical

THE HI-TECH WAY OF ENSURING A NEW BABY’S HEALTH HAVING a child is the most wonderful time in a family’s life but can also be one of the most traumatic. A foetus needs constant monitoring as it grows inside a mother.

The Syml_Beat+ is a user-friendly and secure system which allows midwives to share the foetal heart sounds of the growing baby. The consultant can hear the sounds and view the heart rate graph remotely, as well as chatting with the mother and midwife in real time to ensure the right decisions, such as possible hospitalisation or other support, are made.

It is one of a number of systems – such as the CarePad+, for clinicians and district nurses to use when visiting the elderly; Syml_Forms+, that designs and customises questionnaires, forms and tables; and the Syml_Management+, a support dashboard for prompt actions for managers – that the company has been innovative with.

SymlConnect’s chief Mukhopadhyay, said:

executive

officer,

Dr

Sabarna

“I lived in London and am from India so I had no previous connections with Wales. But ehi2 was formed at about the same time as our company and they have business managers who are able to help.”

Sabarna had linked up with Prof David Ford, head of Health Informatics in Wales, which is a dedicated function that

supports the NHS in Wales in leading on the new integrated digital information services. They were able to go to seminars together.

She added:

“Ehi2 organise events where you can network and look at platforms for your work. David’s team organised seminars and we presented as well at universities.”

The connections made have enabled Dr Mukhopadhyay to break down the barriers that present themselves to SMEs trying to gain a foothold with larger organisations to the extent that she was able to meet with a panel including the head of NHS Wales.

The innovation of Syml_Beat+ is now developing in the health industry and providing previous paper-laden midwives, who need to make decisions these days, with a new alternative by asking a consultant for a second opinion via a virtual link over the internet. Pregnant mothers carry their own paper records, which can now be saved on their mobile for safe keeping and access on-demand. That can only be good in the long term for everyone concerned in the pregnancy process, particularly the mother-to-be and her unborn child.

For more information about SymlConnect, go online to: www.symlconnect.co.uk 44

Life Sciences & Medical

THE NODE THAT LINKS WALES WITH THE WORLD The UK is full of exciting, innovative and vibrant businesses. But, because it is spread across such a large geographical area it is sometimes hard to make new connections. A new, UK-wide digital network known as the National Virtual Incubator (NVI) offers up a modern-day solution to this problem.

The NVI is a free community that spans the country through a series of communication points, known as ‘Nodes’, connecting research clusters, higher-education establishments and science parks. Each ‘node’ is equipped with Cisco Video Technology, which is freely available for use by all members. This resource provides the platform for sophisticated collaboration across the network.

The Welsh NVI Node of this new network was launched on December 12 and is based at the e Health Industries Innovation Centre (ehi2) in the Institute of Life Science 2, Swansea University. NVI Wales is supported by the Welsh Government and there are already 12 active ‘nodes’ in Britain, of which Swansea is one.

NVI Members can take part in a programme of multi-locational, interactive events, discussions and mentor sessions. Importantly, this free UK-wide community offers a unique opportunity to collaborate, pool resources, share ideas and develop new business partnerships.

At the Institute of Life Science 2, Swansea University, a top-floor conference room, with amazing views across the Bristol Channel towards the North Devon coast, is home to some of this cutting edge Cisco tele-presence video technology.

A massive television screen, approximately 50 to 60 inches in diameter, sits in the corner of the room with a large video camera (a larger version of a webcam) sat on the top of the screen. The device is attached to a tablet and, when working fully with all the ‘nodes’ meeting at the same time, it can have a multi-split screen facility connecting anywhere from Scotland to Northern Ireland and the North East of England to London. A maximum of 10 nodes can be viewed on the split screen at any one time.

It is networking for the 21st century.

Sarah Toomey, NVI Wales Manager, explained: “The aim is to grow the membership of the Welsh Node into a vibrant community made

up of students, start-ups and SMEs from both the Life Science and ICT sectors. There are currently ‘nodes’ in London, Sunderland, Cambridge, Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester, Dundee and Belfast, to mention just some. It is a fast-growing network that is spreading across the UK and could go worldwide. The possibilities are simply endless. The opportunities this opens up for entrepreneurs to meet new businesses, share ideas and collaborate is very exciting.

“Each ‘node’ has its own local network of businesses, which are brought together at various events that are run UK-wide over the NVI technology. The aim is to encourage them to share, collaborate and innovate. In the Welsh Node we are running several events in 2014 around the theme of e-health. Events will include a healthcare app hack and an ehealth Awards programme.”

Sarah added: “For us, events like this will open up the opportunity for collaborative work. For example, you may have a clinician in Dundee, a software developer in London and a researcher in Swansea working together at an event on a new e-health innovation. It is a great way of getting people together without the hassle of travelling and makes it easier and quicker to get these ideas through the innovation process.”

The Welsh Node has already taken part in a multi-location Charity Hackathon event that successfully brought people together to collaborate and develop new ideas. The team at the Welsh Node in Swansea was made up of computer-science students and local businesses, who had to develop a digital solution that would open up opportunities for young people.

Said Sarah: “The team here in Swansea developed a personalised search engine to help young people to easily look for opportunities.

The default search engine used the IP or GPS address to tailor the search results to provide opportunities closer to the user location.

The team also designed an android app to compliment the main web presence. Through the NVI technology we were competing and connecting with teams in Sunderland and Strathclyde. It is great to see how easy it was for the teams to work together.”

Joining the network is free and anyone who wishes to register for the Welsh Node and the National Virtual Incubator should contact Sarah Toomey on 01792 295627 or email NVIWales@swansea.ac.uk 45

Life Sciences & Medical

THE MAGNETISM THAT HAS STIMULATED A WELSH SUCCESS STORY STUDIES have shown that one in five of the British population will suffer from some kind of mental health illness, such as anxiety or depression, at some stage of their lives.

Research published by the Office of National Statistics this year said that there had been an increase in the proportion of adults suffering from such problems, with a higher number of women than men reporting that they suffered from the conditions.

Indeed, the World Health Organisation have made a ‘Call to Action’ to world government ministers to tackle the issues, saying: “In particular, depression is predicted to be the second leading cause of the global disability burden by 2020.”

Many mental health issues tend to be isolated incidents caused by an acute matter, such as divorce, loss of a job or a problem in lifestyle. However, for the unfortunate number who find that a depressive illness is more than just a case of ‘feeling down’ for a few days, they are often advised to start drug-related treatments by their GP to ease the symptoms.

46

For the very unfortunate people whose conditions are not improved through the application of medicines, an ECT (Electro Convulsive Therapy), where seizures are electrically induced through the brain to ease the disorders, is often a last resort.

However, a West Wales company, Magstim, are leading the world in the field of neurological magnetic stimulation by providing a new paradigm of brain disorder treatment.

The Magstim Company, based in Whitland, Carmarthenshire, is the original pioneer of magnetic stimulation devices and have remained a market leader over the last 20 years. With a strong heritage and international reach, Magstim develop and manufacture magnetic stimulation devices that cater for the research and clinical markets.

The Magstim 200² system is used mainly in research but also clinically as a diagnostic tool, measuring the conductivity of neurons around the body. It can be used to discover the extent of any nerve damage the patient

may have suffered. The BiStim² system can be used for the purpose of facilitating or indeed, inhibiting neuron activity. The Rapid² system, an rTMS (Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) device, can be used clinically in the field of depression, as a midway point between the medication a patient is taking and a full ECT treatment.

These products have now seen substantial growth for the company, based in West Wales and placed them onto the global life sciences map.

TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) is a non-invasive and painless method of exciting neurons using strong, time-varying magnetic fields generated by placing a stimulating coil against the intended site of stimulation and passing a current through this coil.

Used for research, diagnosis, prognosis and therapy in a range of nervous and psychiatric disorders, magnetic stimulation is able to stimulate the human cortex, spinal roots and peripheral nerves.

Life Sciences & Medical

“Magstim are continuously striving to innovate and remain leaders in the magnetic stimulation field internationally.

Magstim was founded in 1990 and in 2011 won the Queen’s Award after increasing its’ overseas earnings by 66 per cent to over £7m per annum and selling 84 per cent of its production overseas. It has also featured in the ‘Fast Growth 50’ of Welsh companies.

In addition to Magstim’s core product line of magnetic coils and stimulators it also offers state of the art Neuronavigation solutions as well as intra-operative imaging systems commonly used in the removal of brain tumours.

Magstim has also developed the successful Neurosign range of intra-operative monitors and accessories, which are routinely used by ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) surgeons to protect vital facial nerves during complex surgery.

Managing Director Robin Davies, speaking during a business journey to Boston, USA, said the company was aiming to grow even further in the future.

He said:

“Magstim are continuously striving to innovate and remain leaders in the magnetic stimulation field internationally. We have multiple development projects in motion and product development will reflect the demands of the clinical market.”

Robin added: “rTMS is an innovative approach in the treatment of drug resistant major depressive disorder. It allows another highly effective option when drugs fail, or perhaps in circumstances when patients are unable to take medication.

Due to its non-invasive application, rTMS can be administered within an outpatient setting, which offers patients improved flexibility and comfort throughout their treatment cycle.”

The future of the global neuromodulation device industry is predicted to experience aggressive growth over the next five years due to sociological factors, such as an aging population combined with exciting technological developments. As original founders of the technology, Magstim have ambitious plans for growth and will continue to lead the market and provide innovative solutions to the clinical and research fields.

If the successes of Magstim continue into the future, it will certainly be another step in the right direction for Welsh business in the worldwide life sciences marketplace.

For further information about Magstim, go online to: www.magstim.com

47

Graduates

Celebrating 10 years of Graduate Employability Excellence in Wales Traditionally the term ‘graduate recruitment’ would have had small business owners running for the hills, with many not realising what they could offer a new graduate starting their career.

However, during the past 10 years GO Wales has seen a huge shift in perceptions from small businesses, students and graduates following a series of mutually-beneficial experiences that have been organised through the GO Wales scheme, which is funded by the Welsh Government and European Union.

Excellence Awards A number of events have taken place across Wales this year to recognise the excellent career opportunities small businesses have offered students and graduates during the last decade through the GO Wales scheme.

Small business owners were presented with Excellence Awards for their commitment to graduate employability. In total, nine businesses were shortlisted for awards at Swansea University under three categories: Best Employer, Judges’ Prize and Personal Achievement.

Wolfestone Translation won the award for Best Employer. The Swansea-based language service provider has recruited 18 graduates for work placements through the GO Wales scheme.

The company has retained a large proportion of the staff, the fact of which they are extremely proud. Ten of the graduates remain employed with the company.

Wolfestone Translation marketing manager Arek Estall said: “We are extremely proud of being part of the development and success of the graduates who have been with us over the years. There is no better accolade for the successes of GO Wales and Wolfestone than to see these graduates, who we have both guided, thrive in the commercial world.”

Fifty businesses from across North West Wales came together at the Bangor University event. Design agency View Creative

has benefited most from the support of the programme during the past 10 years.

Simon Cotton, director at View Creative said: “We were pleased to be able to offer several graduate placements. We benefited from high-quality students with excellent grades and, more importantly, fresh ideas. As an SME in Wales we felt it important to be able to offer local graduates important work experience, setting them on the right path for the real world of work after studying.

“What we found were some very high-calibre graduates, who were keen to learn and develop their skills in the workplace.

We were delighted to be able to offer permanent contracts of employment as a result of the placements.”

Becky Ryan, GO Wales work experience manager at Bangor University, believes that, with the introduction of tuition fees and the difficulties generally in finding work, more and more pressure is placed on students and graduates to stand out from the crowd.

She said: “A scheme like GO Wales and the support of local businesses is instrumental in providing the framework to support these individuals when taking that all-important first step on the career ladder.”

Research Recent research produced by GTI Media, publishers of TARGET jobs and Step, reveals that, although larger graduate recruiters have a big presence on university campuses, small business have the capacity to recruit more graduates.

The research suggests that smaller businesses find it difficult to promote their opportunities and fill their vacancies and most would value closer contact with local universities, with 59 per cent finding it a challenge to recruit graduates from universities.

For 10 years GO Wales has been bridging the gap between graduates and small businesses, with a team based at every 48

university in Wales. GO Wales has access to high-calibre individuals who can inject new skills and knowledge into businesses.

More and more students and graduates are now realising the learning potential that can be gained from working at a small business. Quite often they will work on all aspects of the business, which can be an incredibly rewarding experience.

Over 10,000 students and graduates have gained work experience opportunities in Wales through the GO Wales scheme.

Graduates

Contact GO Wales

GO Wales has two schemes enabling businesses to recruit graduates, with financial subsidies of up to £2,600 towards salary costs. They are: • GO Wales Work Placements: 6-10 weeks • Jobs Growth Wales Graduate programme: 6 months leading to sustainable employment

For further information email: info@gowales.co.uk or call: 0845 225 60 50.

49

Graduates

The Graduate Making A Mark at Amber Energy Amber Energy, based in Cardiff, offered an Energy Manager position to local graduate Mark Corne through the GO Wales work placement scheme.

Director Nick Proctor explains how the graduate’s unusual start has led to a series of very successful achievements for the company and Mark’s winning of the Graduate Achiever award at the GO Wales 10th birthday awards in Cardiff.

Nick said: “Mark joined me as an unshaven graduate in a pair of flip-flops and torn jeans. In contrast, he has just left suited and booted to go and visit a new prospect; it is his choice to do it in the evening but perhaps that is because he now manages the team here at Amber Energy.

“Mark joined as an intern doing a 10-week GO Wales placement and what appealed to both of us was the approach of, ‘this is only for 10 weeks but it could end up going somewhere’. Mark was the first person I employed and he is now strategically essential and a real ‘backbone’ to the team of six I now employ.

“We’ve done what we have within 18 months and achieved 400 per cent growth during that time. I couldn’t have done it without him and I truly believe he deserves this recognition.”

Nick felt that employing Mark within his company has clearly become the right choice, and, with Mark’s abilities constantly developing and his improving in the role, he has become an invaluable team member within the organisation.

Nick added: “Mark is extremely versatile and he has had to deal with a number of different areas of the company, simply because of the speed of growth. Over time I’ve watched his abilities grow and enjoyed seeing him step out of his comfort zone into areas that he understands to be important to the company.

“His great attributes are his ability to deal with teams, to lead others within the team, to inspire them to progress further with their roles than they have before and to develop systems and practices that streamline the business.

“Recently I promoted Mark from Energy Manager to Team Leader, his fifth pay increase in 18 months. It’s rare to find graduates who understand the commercial world and want to be part of something so small. Mark thinks like a businessman and will go far. I wish every graduate had his attitude to getting things done to a very high standard. Mark won’t send anything out of the door unless it reaches the company’s quality levels and he works extremely hard to hit the progressing work levels as we grow even more. He is an outstanding achiever.”

50

Graduates

Welsh Mountain Zoo Achieves Outstanding Contribution Award

Welsh Mountain Zoo first opened its doors in 1963 in Colwyn Bay as a registered charity to enhance appreciation and understanding of the earth’s natural heritage through public education, recreation and the advancement of biological study.

The enterprise has now been awarded the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Work Experience’ at the GO Wales awards staged at Bangor University.

Suzanne Colman, education officer at Welsh Mountain Zoo, first got involved with the GO Wales project about 10 years ago.

Commenting on achieving the award, she said: “The zoo has provided countless Work Tasters and Work Placement opportunities to students and graduates via GO Wales and the university. Our current participant is Biological Sciences graduate Lauren Wood. Her Initial role within our

company was as a seasonal Education Assistant. Lauren is still working with us and doing really well.

“It was extremely useful to have the extra help from GO Wales in the peak season for planning, preparing and running the Young Zoologist Days summer programme for unaccompanied children aged 8-12 years. Lauren helped free up other members of staff to undertake activities and events, which would not have been possible otherwise.

This was very beneficial to the running of our program.

“I would encourage other businesses to get involved in the GO Wales scheme as it is like a sponsored miniapprenticeship, benefitting both the organisation and the participant.

“There are plans to develop the educational and research facilities at the Zoo but the extent to which this will happen will depend on what funding is available.”

51

Business & Innovation

JON Horne says he thrives on challenges and, without doubt, the chief executive of Cardiff Airport has had a few of those since first taking charge of the business in 2001.

Just weeks before Jon was initially appointed, the biggest disaster of the century so far took place on a sunny morning in the skies over New York City. In the aftermath of 9/11, the aviation market plummeted as passenger numbers fell due, largely, to a reactionary fear.

Jon recalled: “I started my first period of employment at Cardiff Airport on November 1, 2001 in the wake of 9/11. The industry was in complete and utter turmoil and one of my first tasks was to phone my chief executive Keith Brooks to say that a major carrier was pulling their aircraft out because the charter market had collapsed. But, I respond to challenges and overcoming adversity is something which stimulates me.”

Since then he has also had to face the challenges posed by the growth of low-cost airlines around the UK, with Bristol Airport challenging his prime passenger market in Wales.

Jon left Cardiff Airport in 2007 to run his own aviation advisory firm.

Then, last year, he took a call from the Welsh Government and was told they were buying Cardiff Airport. They needed Jon’s expertise to help revive a business which, he admits, was broken.

Eight months on since once again taking up the reins at Wales’ biggest airport and 12 years since that very challenging introduction to Cardiff Airport, the signs are that he and his management team are making a difference.

Passenger numbers at the Airport, situated near the village of Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan, have been on the rise. Year-on-year figures for May to September, from the Civil Aviation Authority, showed an eight per cent growth in numbers and, with an enormous amount of hard work going on behind the scenes, those figures are targeted to rise further in the years to come.

For Jon’s management team, and the thousand people who earn their livings directly or indirectly from Cardiff Airport, it means having a person in charge whose vision is clear for the future and who can lead them accordingly.

52

Business & Innovation Jon is a very busy man, yet took time out to explain his management way – he does not like the word ‘style’ – to Welsh SME owners, directors and managers at a Leadership and Management Wales seminar in November, just metres from the runway where flights were heading to all points across Europe and connections beyond.

What makes him wake up with the enthusiasm to tackle these challenges head-on is simple.

He said: “I am passionate about aviation and airports.” But, so that he does not get distracted from the task in hand by watching planes landing and taking off, the original Airport designers placed office windows so high that you need to stand up to look out of them!

However, the integral ‘X factor’ in gaining momentum with a business like Cardiff Airport is building relationships with the multitude of customers who pass through or use the vast facility, potential new clients and the staff who make it all happen.

Jon said: “I am quite intuitive and one of the things that has helped me over time is understanding the person I am and understanding the team around me. Understanding that team is vitally important, as is the ability to coach them to have confidence in their own abilities and instinct.

“You need to have confidence and that confidence builds over time.

As somebody who leads, you feel under pressure to know it all; but you never will. It is very dangerous to think that you have to know it all or that you should know it all. That is where the relationship with staff comes in.

“Relationships do not mean you have to be friends with everybody.

What you have to do as a leader is, invariably, convey messages. In the conveying of those messages you need people to respond to them; it is not just one-way traffic, it is also about listening. One of the most difficult things is actually learning to listen, so you are not just hearing the words but you are hearing what is behind the words and are able to evaluate what is actually being said.

“I set huge stall by that process, both internally in the business and externally. The primary driver in this business is the number of passengers who go through the airport. They are the most important customer in the first instance.

“When I employed somebody to do route development work back in 2005/06, I gave them the title, Head of Aviation Relationships, because the relationships we have with our (aviation) customers (the airlines who carry the passengers to and from Cardiff Airport) are so important. We have a contract with those customers which says: ‘if you put your wheels on that runway, you have to pay us for the privilege of doing it’. But there is no contract that says you will put your wheels on that tarmac three times a day until 2015. Airlines come because they are convinced of an opportunity and they stay because they realise that opportunity and make money from it. If they don’t, they go away.

“The relationship you create with that customer is one of the most important things you can have because it means that, hopefully, if something goes wrong, that person you have the relationship with will talk to you about it.”

“It is all to do with connectivity and, over time, targets will grow due to that connectivity,” said Jon. “That is enabling Wales to access the world, and also for the world to access Wales. It is not just about the far-flung destinations, but Europe as well.

“The other role that is played, but is often underestimated, is that a lot of people fly through here to go on holiday. That is a quality-oflife thing and is very important to the people who are here in Wales.

But it is also an important inward-investment consideration. If I am going to move my business here, I need to understand that people are going to be happy in their work and have a quality of life.

“But if I am to bring people in as well – and there are people who we have to attract into Wales if we are going to grow the economy – it is important they have a quality of life as well and access to leisure and travel is part of that process.”

That, again, illustrates the passion for a relationships-driven path that Jon advocates. As such, allowing people to express their views is crucial.

He added:

“Relationships are about building networks, about enabling people to have confidence in their own intuition.

We talk about it glibly but it is a really important thing. I am also a very open person, which tends to help people connect with me.”

Jon has the ear of major players in the aviation industry across the world, plus Welsh Government at a high level. But his staff and the performance of Cardiff Airport are what will define his management in the long run.

As such, his top tips for being a great leader are: “Understand yourself in relationships. Understand the power of networks, which are really important. It is about having confidence in your own intuition and using that to understand other people.

“You may not be a naturally intuitive person; being aware of this is just as powerful. It all comes back to knowing your strengths and weaknesses and playing to your strengths.

“One thing I have found in management is that there are so many people who are a certain shaped ‘peg’ in the wrong shaped ‘hole’.

They suffer miserably because they think that is the job they should be doing and nobody has had the intelligence or courage to say to them: ‘you are in the wrong place’.

“If the peg is the wrong shape for the hole, you need to move because you will never succeed otherwise.”

There is no doubt that Jon fits into the CEO role at Cardiff Airport perfectly and, with his leadership, there is every chance that the nation’s passenger aviation centre can grow and fly successfully.

These are challenges that he will, no doubt, face with relish.

Cardiff and Wales are linked to the global economy via the Airport through carriers like KLM and Aer Lingus, the latter being able to offer immigration and customs clearance in Dublin, rather than having to queue for hours in the USA, something which is increasingly common.

Jon is also hoping that Cardiff’s growth will see other major opportunities opening up in the future, from Wales itself to America and to Dubai, that will further cement the Principality’s place in the world and bring people here who have never visited before.

For more information about Cardiff Airport, go online to:

www.cardiff-airport.com

53

Business & Innovation

IT IS HUGELY IMPORTANT THAT YOU REAP A BENEFIT FROM EVERY FUNCTION. SET YOURSELF TARGETS AND ENSURE YOU CONSISTENTLY HIT THEM.

54

Business & Innovation

Networking is all about VCP – Visibility, Credibility and Profitability. The more you are seen and heard among business contacts, providing you carry yourself and your work in a credible fashion, the more profitable you can become; but only if you choose your network carefully.

That is the view of one of the pioneers of networking in South Wales, Lynne Orton, who has run The Business Network since 2001 from her base in Port Talbot.

The Business Network was established after Lynne identified a need for a relaxed, yet effective, form of networking among the SME market in South Wales. Nearly 13 years after launching Lynne says it is more important than ever that networking is one facet of your marketing strategy. ‘‘When we started The Business Network the commercial landscape was completely different,” said Lynne. “Businesses in Wales are now much more aware of the importance of networking than they were 13 years ago. We’ve seen a huge diversification of businesses and the increase of start-ups providing essential services has most certainly increased an astronomical amount.’’

Speaking on how to make networking work as effectively as possible for you, Lynne said: ‘‘First, understand why you want to network.’’

A question many fail to ask themselves.

She added: ‘‘Outline your objectives and communicate them to your colleagues and contacts. We always host an orientation meeting with our new members in order to clarify what they want to get out of our meetings and events.

Some businesses may wish to increase sales, they may wish to increase their brand recognition and others simply want to expand their network in order to increase their contacts.’’

Lynne continued: ‘‘It is hugely important that you reap a benefit from every function. Set yourself targets and ensure you consistently hit them. If you feel you need help, ask a networking colleague, or even the event organisers. We help those who feel they could be getting more out of their networking. More often than not it is only a small change that is needed.’’

approach to a new contact. Most experienced networkers would gladly help you out and introduce you to friendly faces. It’s in their interest as well as yours.’’

These tips, combined with a good old fashioned dash of common sense, will help you use networking to market your business. It is a platform from which to communicate your business’s news, objectives and what you are offering. ‘‘Where else can you have complete control over your communication?’’ said Lynne. ‘‘Networking can be used as a PR tool as well as a sales tool. You get the chance to engage with potential clients, suppliers and referral partners all in one room; all while enjoying yourself.’’

The power of networking can dramatically boost your businesses marketing clout, simply by making contacts. ‘‘The more people you establish a connection with, the more people know about your company, know about what you are offering and know who you want to be introduced to,’’ said Lynne.

Another method of making the most of business networking is collaboration. A Lecturer from Cardiff has identified The Business Network as the perfect breeding ground for businesses working together on projects.

Jane Lynch, who lectures on Supplier Management at Cardiff Business School, said at The Business Network’s October exhibition, where she was a guest speaker: ‘‘The Business Network is so important to help get collaboration started.

If you don’t know what companies are in your vicinity, how can you expect to find you ideal collaborative partners?”

Echoing Jane’s comments is Bob Meakes, Director for the Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW) in Wales.

He said: ‘‘Collaborative working is the silent revolution.

Everyone is talking about it, but the reality is that very few organisations, large and small, actually understand to a full extent what collaboration entails.

Confidence is an issue that many struggle with, especially when it comes to networking. The networking environment thrives on confidence and it is those who overcome confidence issues that get the most benefit from networking.

“Collaboration goes far beyond information sharing or pooling of business resources. Effective collaboration constitutes early supplier involvement, transparency, early identification and agreements of core individual strengths. It is also about taking risks. All parties involved are required to make a commitment to the project and to stick to their part, even when the project encounters difficulties.”

Lynne added: ‘‘Confidence is a huge factor. Some are born with it, others have to build it. It can be incredibly daunting entering a networking function, especially if many of the attendees already know each other. My advice would be to throw yourself in at the deep end and make that first

It appears that The Business Network is not just an environment for businesses that wish to expand their contacts and take control of their marketing. It is also a platform from which they are able to fully immerse themselves in the business community.

55

Business & Innovation

BUSINESS leadership is as important in the micro-business culture as in the SME sector and large multi-national institutions, believes Leadership & Management Wales (LMW) director Dr Barrie Kennard.

LMW staged the first of a series of Challenge seminars at Cardiff Airport aptly called ‘The Return Flight’ featuring an interview with the airport’s returning chief executive, Jon Horne.

Company owners and managers were told how a great leadership style can not only embrace employees and make them happy in their roles, but also take a company to new heights.

The Challenge seminars will continue into 2014 across Wales. This particular session, with the man at the rudder of Wales’ international passenger airport hub, was sold out as Jon explained in depth the fundamentals of how to lead a staff of around 40 – plus nearly 1,000 contractors and suppliers – and make a business once in decline take off once more.

Barrie said The Challenge morning had gone well, adding: “I think Jon was open in his answers and, obviously, a lot of the talk was about the airport.

But when he talked about his own leadership style it was evident that he really is a believer in emotional intelligence and the emotionally-intelligent leader.

He comes across exactly as he is, a nice guy who is well respected by his staff.”

The Challenge seminar series has been designed to take business owners and managers to see leaders of businesses across Wales in their own environment.

Hence, Mr Horne spoke to the 50 guests as planes took off outside the main terminal building heading

56

for all points – although he did admit his office windows are at such a high level that he has to stand to look out of them, thus ensuring he is not distracted by plane-watching when he should be working.

Barrie explained: “Historically we have featured presentations by leaders of large, well-known businesses outside of Wales. They would tell their life story and create a vision of what Welsh business could aspire to. We have decided instead to draw from the wealth of talent within Welsh businesses and provide the opportunity to visit and listen to their stories. And there are some really remarkable stories.

“We were also keen to make these events more personal, so we decided to go with a smaller audience. This first event’s audience was always capped at 50, whereas our previous events catered for more than 100. I also wanted people to get the chance to speak directly to the person we were featuring, in this case, Jon. “SMEs, particularly in the micro to small enterprise end of the spectrum, often make the point that taking time out of the day to day running of their business to develop their leadership skills is difficult to justify.”

Barrie believes, though, that leadership is fundamental to any company’s business strategy no matter what size they are.

Lead your people properly, treat your people properly and they could be with you for life.

Business & Innovation He added: “I know that if we go to micro businesses and talk to them about leadership, the chances are that we are going to get answers in the order of, ‘Leadership is nothing to do with me; there are only two of us’.

“I understand that, but if you said to those same people, ‘Can we have a chat about running your business?’ they would say, ‘Ah! I will talk to you about that’. They don’t see leadership as running their business. They see it as some skill that they don’t need; but, of course, they do need it.

“Our job is to make leadership acceptable, if you like, to micro-businesses. SMEs are different because the SME range is huge, from 250 to 10 (employees) is a massive amount of businesses that can be brought on board.

“Some of the larger SMEs will embrace leadership and its development. Some of the smaller ones will ask – and I understand why – ‘What is the point of that?’ Many SMEs think that leadership is for somebody else and others see it as an expensive luxury that they would look at if they had the time and money. But it is way down on the list of priorities. Again, I understand why.

“I think micro businesses are the modern-day equivalent of subsistence farmers. They are primarily focusing on survival. So let’s not talk to them about leadership – let’s talk to them about development and growth.”

New growth figures, revealed by the UK Government in November, show that business may be returning to better times after the recession of the last few years. So now is the optimum time for micro and SME companies to

start afresh and work on their business, rather than in it; and leadership and management issues need to be a priority.

But Barrie said: “Many businesses have been set up because unemployment was the other option.

Maybe someone has been laid off from doing a particular task by an employer and thought, ‘I am not going to get another job, so I will go self-employed’. I think it is then going to take a long time for them to say, ‘Now let’s talk about leadership’.”

LMW held their second event in Wrexham during November. The speaker was Rachel Clacher, the co-founder and a director of Moneypenny, the UK’s leading provider of telephone answering and outsourcing switchboard services, which are used by many SMEs across Wales and the UK and which is in the list of Top 100 Companies To Work For in the country.

After Christmas LMW are putting on another event, this time with William McNamara, chief executive of Pembrokeshire’s Bluestone Resort and more are planned throughout 2014.

“Lead your people properly, treat your people properly and they could be with you for life.”

Barrie describes his own working career as ‘odd’.

It has seen him move from being a telephone engineer for 15 years to financial services as a sales rep. He then went into the training sector.

He was ‘head-hunted’ to be head of training for the Western Mail and Echo Group, but was made redundant in 1998.

Yet, the day after that, Cardiff University asked him to teach on a degree course he had just completed and offered to sponsor his doctorate . He was then in the group that made a bid for LMW to the Welsh Government as quality manager and took over as director of 10 staff.

And his own leadership style?

“It depends when you ask me,” Barrie said with a broad smile.

And there are specific goals for the events.

“It changes every day. Most of my staff will tell you that I am not a micro-manager; I never have been. Micro-management means you don’t trust the people you manage. I am very much a ‘ fire and forget’, which means me asking someone, ‘Can you do that? Yes? Come and see me if it is not working’.

“I want people to learn more about practical leadership,” said the LMW director. “Good leaders affect everyone and Jon’s point – with which I completely agree – was that leadership sometimes gets over-complicated. It is not complicated, it is very simple. Leadership is about people.

“I tend to deal with the 49-51 per cent decisions.

Anything other than that everyone else deals with.

I let everyone get on with it because I want them to develop and I trust them. And that means the team are happy, they are engaged. They are a very good team and I am constantly proud of them.”

However, Barrie added: “If there is anyone you know who would make a good interviewee, then let us know and we will try to set it up.”

For more information about the up and coming Challenge events, go online and book your place at: www.lmw.org.uk/events. You can also stay up to date with what is happening at LMW by signing up to their eNewsletter at: https://www.lmw.org.uk/news/enewsletter-sign-up/ 57

Business & Innovation

BUSINESS leaders believe that, no matter who you are, nobody should ever stop educating themselves. From major company executives to trainees and apprentices, continuous learning is the keystone to personal development in the workplace.

Even for employees who have attained a high level of management and responsibility, it is not always the case that they have discovered all there is to know about their business or profession. A spell back in an educational environment, whether at their office or in the classroom, can reap huge benefits.

This is where the growth area of work-based learning has become more and more prevalent over the last number of years – and one centre, the Centre for Work Based Learning (CWBL) at Cardiff Metropolitan University, has linked with a major national company, based in Wales, so that their employees can benefit from higher education while still remaining in their jobs.

It is one way that Cardiff Met is looking to integrate with businesses and become more than just an academic starting point for thousands of future employees who pass through their doors heading towards valuable degrees. The link they have forged with Newport-based recruitment company Acorn means they can make higher education far more accessible than it used to be.

The partnership with Acorn is aimed at providing Foundation Degrees (Fd) that can lead into a studying at degree or masters level. However, this is just one path that CWBL are treading to link with businesses, large, medium, small and micro, in the Welsh community.

Fiona Argent, newly-appointed CWBL manager, is very clear on how a link between the organisation and business can work from both sides of the

fence, having spent 20 years working within the work based learning sector.

She said: “The Fd that we are delivering in partnership with Acorn is a new concept. We are enabling people who work full time to access higher-level learning. It’s about studying while you are working as it can be difficult for people to access higher-level learning while they are working.

“What this does is give people a foot in the door, to get into the University system and gain the credits they need to go further if they wish. A lot of these people are already performing at this level in their own working day or in a structured management system. But they may want to learn more.”

The system benefits both employee and employer in that the employee discovers new advances in his or her industry, or may refresh themselves with fundamentals learned many years before to make them an all-round better employee. In addition, while they are learning these principles they are able to apply them to their job.

Fiona said the Foundation degree focussed on reflective practice, adding: “You have to look at where you are in your role, where you want to be and how you are going to get there. It’s very much about personal development which is work based, and that is important.”

CWBL is not, however, just about linking with major companies. Bespoke, in-house training can also be applied to the SME market and public-sector departments through their Short Course programmes, that develop everything from market-research techniques to sales and investigative service principles and practices.

Fiona said: There are many work based learning opportunities at the University, ranging from

For further information about CWBL, their courses and networking events, go online to: www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/CWBL

58

individual continuing professional development (CPD) courses through to comprehensive bespoke programmes tailored to a particular company’s needs. We have developed a programme in partnership with Public Health Wales to develop the knowledge of organisational development practitioners from across NHS Wales.”

And, by reaching out further to SMEs, CWBL is hoping to extend those core values of being tuned in with employee and business needs to the micro and small business world.

Fiona thinks that SMEs need the support. She added: “The short course is about finding a niche and a demand. Our strategy with regard to that is that we want to give business real value for money.

It’s about working with businesses to find out what programmes they would most benefit from.”

One way of finding out what SMEs requirements from programmes are is by networking, and, again, CWBL is reaching out to the Cardiff area in this respect. CWBL staff encourage businesses to bring their networking events to the University at Llandaff, encouraging the practical support needed in this sector of the economy.

“We have spoken with a number of small business clubs in Cardiff and the surrounding area and they come to us, where we can host events. There are some pretty amazing people working here (in Cardiff Met) with a lot of talent and knowledge about business areas. It’s enabling businesses to tap into them and letting them know we are here to help.”

Business & Innovation

On our Accreditation Service:

≤

Developing your future with the Centre for Work Based Learning Take your business to the next level with work based learning from Cardiff Metropolitan University

“We are delighted to be working alongside Cardiff Metropolitan University.

This partnership approach to development maximises the benefits for all concerned” Dr Alan Dowler, CEO of Stratum Learning We have a dedicated Centre for Work Based Learning, focused on leading edge responses to employer needs in Wales. If you want to develop your business, gain academic credit for you and your employees experience, and upskill your workforce on the job, contact us now to access the growing number of unique and flexible opportunities that we can offer you.

Our services include: • accreditation of in­house training • design and accreditation of work based learning • business consultancy and organisational diagnostics • business training courses and programmes • Applied Professional Practice degree programmes

Tel: 029 2020 1559 Email: cwbl@cardiffmet.ac.uk www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/cwbl

59

Business & Innovation

EVERY company requires training at some time but it’s not always easy to find the right information when you need it.

Wales is fortunately blessed to have a host of diverse training providers, educational establishments, private consultants and industry specialists offering a range of professional services across the sectors. Coupled with great industry links and forums representing everything from Aerospace to Manufacturing it appears the glass is certainly full when it comes to accessing information on CPD and training for SMEs and individuals in the Principality.

Common sense and good practice dictate that investing in professional development and appropriate training is essential for a successful and emerging SME if it wants to succeed in developing an effective, productive workforce that can compete on a national and global platform.

SMEs and individuals in Wales currently can opt to invest in commercial solutions, funded solutions or a mixture of both. But it begs the question and leaves people with the same conundrum: Why isn’t there a national sign posting service or information resource available for SMEs and budding entrepreneurs to access all the information they require in relation to professional training and development in Wales?

To date, the question has been left unanswered but in April 2014 a new resource will be released online aptly called Training Know How. The innovative digital resource and monthly e-bulletin will bring information, features and best-practice advice and guidance from private and public sector training providers across Wales. The resource and e-bulletin will also feature national and regional initiatives backed by the Welsh Government and local authorities, giving SMEs and individuals all the information they could ever want in order to grow and nurture talent, save on budgets and gain qualifications.

Currently there is nothing like it on the market and that is why we can proudly say we are passionate about our cause. Training Know How is totally committed to supporting SMEs and entrepreneurs in Wales so we can grow our economy and proud nation with a multi-layered and multi-skilled workforce.

Training Know How resource will be released in April, August and December and will be additionally supported by a monthly e-bulletin released to a database of over 50,000 SMEs across Wales. The resource will also be marketed by our digital partners, SME Wales. Our dedicated social media portal will give our followers a daily portion of sound advice, links and tips, giving the new title a national and global audience.

The Training Know How digital resource will be available for download via the FREE SME REVOLUTION APP that can be downloaded currently from Apple APP store and Google Play APP store.

60

AVAILABLE ON:

FOLLOW US ON: @trainingknowhow DIGITAL RELEASE: April // August // December

61

Community

Businesses of all sizes can benefit through engaging with social enterprises, writes Wales Director for Business in the Community, Rosie Sweetman.

During many years working with businesses, we’ve had the privilege of supporting hundreds of companies in Wales on their responsible business journey. To Business in the Community (BITC), being responsible is achieving commercial success in ways that honour the company’s values and positively impacts on both people and planet. To put it another way, it’s about achieving a ‘win-win’ for business and for communities across Wales.

A great example of a company who has seen the business case and is embracing these opportunities is the PHS Group. The company became aware of the potential of social enterprise since mentoring local organisations two years ago. Some are now key suppliers. The Arts Factory Design, a marketing communications enterprise, that provide opportunities for excluded individuals in the Rhondda is now widely used across PHS Group.

One of the key aspects of responsible business that comes up in conversations time and time again is the role that larger companies should play in supporting the creation and growth of small and medium businesses and social enterprises.

Another firm, GreenCap, deliver artificial planting and pot planters to PHS Greenleaf, which has created a new business service for PHS’ clients.

Considering that most of the job creation in the UK comes from SMEs (nine in 10 people who found work since the economic downturn found it within an SME), and that Wales’ thriving social enterprises provide employment and opportunity for many of those individuals who are hardest to reach, there is a huge social case and arguably an ethical imperative for larger companies to offer support to their smaller cousins. But is there a win for business, a commercial imperative too?

Defining the business case or commercial benefit is an important step in the journey that takes engagement from being a niche activity to a mainstream one. That’s why earlier this year, Business in the Community published research with Santander focused on how large companies can widen access to their supply chains to SMEs and social enterprises.

This research with Chief Procurement Officers representing a combined procurement spend of £10.6bn with over 70,000 suppliers found compelling evidence of strengthened supply chains, reputational benefits, access to innovation and creativity, business growth and financial returns.

62

Social enterprises are often firmly rooted in the communities they serve. This makes them best placed to develop innovative solutions to deal with some of businesses’ most pressing challenges.

Through buying from social enterprises, PHS lives its sustainable values, but also demonstrates social value to its clients and its clients’ clients, many of which are in the Public Sector.

Another example but of a much smaller business benefiting from working with social enterprise is the Flintshire-based, debt collection firm, Crystal Collections.

The business, who were named BITC’s Small Company of the Year in 2013 and employs just 22 staff, has been mentoring Pennywise, a social enterprise specialising in providing debt advice to local people.

As well as providing an effective means to engage staff, these practices have not gone unnoticed by Crystal Collection’s clients, many of whom have picked up on the fact resulting in new business opportunities for the company.

So if there is a clear benefit to engaging with the social enterprise sector in a range of

different ways, why aren’t more companies like PHS and Crystal Collections doing it?

This is something that BITC is working hard to address.

Our Menter Iontach Nua programme is also providing opportunities for businesses to build engagement directly with social enterprises through mentoring. Part of a new Masters programme with Bangor University in social entrepreneurship, this programme is matching business expertise to local social enterprise. As well as benefiting social enterprises, the programme provides a practical and effective way for business managers to benefit as well.

We’ve also just launched a new programme called Access the Buyer. This programme, run in partnership with Santander will comprise a national series of events to enable access to supply chains for high quality, supply ready SMEs and social enterprises . The first Access the Buyer event in Wales will focus on the Media and Culture sector in Cardiff on January 28, 2014.

In order for more companies to understand how they can benefit, we need to hear more positive examples. That’s why we’re currently looking for the best examples of businesses supporting SMEs and social enterprises to enter the Wales Enterprise Growth category in our Responsible Business Awards. This will shine a spotlight on best practice and encourage more of it.

There are increasing expectations for all businesses to offer real value and behave responsibly. Engaging social enterprises can provide a really effective means of demonstrating responsible business behaviour.

For more details go online to: www.bitc.org.uk/wales

Community

RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS AWARDS OPEN FOR ENTRY Entries are now open for Business in the Community’s Responsible Business Awards. Sponsored by Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, they are the UK’s longest running and most respected awards championing responsible business.

Rigorously assessed by business peers from all sectors, the Awards encourage and celebrate the responsible business movement across Wales.

There are eight categories for companies in Wales to enter:

The Welsh Government Responsible Business Award The Finance Wales Small Responsible Business Award The Network Rail Cymru /Wales Building Stronger Communities Award Careers Wales Education Award Wales & West Utilities Inspiring Young Talent Award Wales Enterprise Award Wales Workwell Wellbeing & Engagement Award Wales Employee Volunteer of the Year Award For each category, significant achievement will be rewarded with a BITC ‘Big Tick’ during Responsible Business Week in April 2014, with the accolade of Overall Category Winner announced at Responsible Business Awards in Wales Gala Dinner at the Swalec Stadium in June 2014.

The Awards are free to enter for all private sector companies that have an operational presence in Wales.

The entry deadline is 21 February 2014.

For more details visit www.bitc.org.uk/wales.

PICTURED ABOVE Wales Director for BITC, Rosie Sweetman (R), with BITC Members, Chris Lodge, PHS Group and Edward Morgan, Castell Howell Foods.

TOP TIPS FOR ENGAGING SOCIAL ENTERPRISES Companies of all size can benefit from working with social enterprises. What can you do if you want to start working with social enterprise in your own business? Here are BITC’s top tips:

#1.

Talk to your clients. Understand their interest in bringing social enterprises into their supply chains, and how you can help them to achieve this.

#2.

Assess your existing processes to ensure social enterprises can enter your supply base. Are your procurement processes fair, transparent and open? How could you live your company’s social and environmental values through your suppliers?

#3.

Review your suppliers. What are the opportunities to add value? Is there a social enterprise that would present a similar product or service with a greater social impact?

#4.

Organise “Meet the Buyer” events for social enterprises to showcase suitable products and services to your buying team and direct suppliers.

#5.

Work hard and collaboratively to get the first contract signed.

Companies tell us that after the first one the value of working with social enterprises will be better understood and shared by your stakeholders.

63

Community

Your business strives to become more profitable. Your business needs to find different ways to access new markets. Your business wants to motivate and develop its people and leaders. Your business must creatively nurture key customers and suppliers. Your business wants to promote its brand. What more can you do? This article can help you by highlighting how you can value and support nature for mutual benefit...

Businesses are under increasing cost, consumer and competitor pressure to behave more responsibly or ethically towards the environment, communities and society in general. Three major factors, however, are compelling Welsh businesses of all sizes to take a closer a look at their relationship with nature.

First, the CBI’s 2012 report on green business estimated that green growth has contributed to at least a third of all growth in the British economy in the previous two years.

Second, the UK ‘State of Nature’ Report (May, 2013), by 25 leading wildlife organisations, noted that 60 per cent of the 3,000 UK plant and animal species had declined over the past 50 years.

Third, a recent RSPB report found that only one in eight children in Wales have a connection with nature.

These facts can be viewed as either ‘interesting’ or as opportunities for businesses to value nature in ways that are both sustainable and promote commercial success. We have been exploring this opportunity and challenge as one aspect of the Valleys Regional Park Partnership-led WECAN initiative.

WECAN stands for: Working together for Economically Prosperous Communities through Assets of Natural Heritage, and is a trans-national European funded Interreg IVb programme. Its’ goal is to use the natural environment to drive social and economic regeneration in the South Wales valleys and in similar former industrial regions in Belgium and France, with a focus on community and business engagement.

Our ‘WECAN in Wales’ experience has included engaging businesses to provide know-how, employee volunteering days, facilities and materials or financial support for projects linked to the environment that crucially provide mutual benefit. This has been facilitated by creating the www. wefundthevalleys.com website and a related matching or ‘dating agency’style process.

Phil Burkhard, who is in charge of business engagement for WECAN, said: “Two outcomes are striking. First, businesses of different sizes (e.g. Amity Web Solutions, Western Log Group and Eversheds) – and not just corporates – are supporting this agenda.

Second, the businesses are from different sectors (e.g. Rhymney Brewery, Cynon Valley Crime Prevention Association and recruitment and training company New Directions), and not just those with an obvious link to the environment.

“In fact, we are delighted that 12 businesses have provided £87k worth of support and others (e.g. Dwr Cymru, Penn Pharmaceuticals, Costain, Arriva Trains Wales and Tilon Composites) are at various stages of discussion.”

It is helpful to gain an insight into what business engagement on WECAN means in practice and this is illustrated by three contrasting examples – involving bees, birds, horses, young people, SMEs and corporate businesses:

Go Wild Event Ideal weather and fantastic activities brought nearly 5,000 visitors to a ‘Go Wild!’ event at Pontllanfraith in June to mark the beginning of Biodiversity Week in Wales. It is estimated that one out of every three mouthfuls of food depends on pollination and yet half of our 27 bumblebee species are in decline; so at Pontllanfraith there was an opportunity to imaginatively mix fun with education.

For example, children fought for the survival of their hive on the ‘Battle of the Bees’ obstacle course by collecting as much pollen as they could while being sprayed with water; they threw seed-bombs to create a wildflower meadow, helped to build a bee hotel and nailed together a bee box to take home with them. Local businesses played their part and benefited from the publicity: •

Joyner Pa Cymru - donated a bumblebee nest box for the winner of the ‘Best Dressed Pollinator’ in the fancy dress competition.

•

Sainsbury’s (Pontllanfraith) - donated products and a bee hive box as prizes in a competition to identify which items in a shopping trolley were reliant on pollination by insects.

•

Amity Web Solutions - sponsored a ‘Bee Hotel’, made by Groundwork Caerphilly, to complete the ‘Battle of the Bees’ obstacle course.

Put into perspective, the economic value of bees as pollinators of commercially grown insect-pollinated crops in the UK has been estimated at more than £200m per year.

64

Community

Peregrines at Dare Valley Country Park The peregrine is an endangered species and can be found at the Green Flag Award-winning Dare Valley Country Park. A local NSI (National Security Inspectorate) Gold standard business, Cynon Valley Crime Prevention Association (CVCPA), whose focus is security systems, has offered to obtain funding for specialist cameras and install them for free so that they can be linked to the web and enhance the visitor experience. There is also an opportunity to involve the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) and reach out to its 1.3 million members in the UK. CVCPA also deliver an award-winning scheme (P.U.P.I.L.), which is designed to promote community involvement and safety and crime

prevention within the secondary education system. Each year, for example, 150 young people are taken on a residential course to Swindon.

The proposed CVCPA support for Dare Valley, however, offers the chance to run more of these courses at the Country Park, which has excellent accommodation, educational and outdoor facilities.

The proximity of the Park would also provide scope to better engage young people with behavioural problems or special needs using the outdoors, animals and the expertise and facilities on hand.

The Park also has training and meeting rooms and tailored outdoor activities for business benefit.

Amman Valley Trotting Club In 1979 a group of passionate and committed volunteers amazingly turned a former slag heap at Tairgwaith into Wales’ premier trotting track (where a world trotting record was set in 2010), which attracts from 300 to 1000 spectators for each event. The vision is to add a major grandstand, stables, a manege (horse schooling area) in the centre of the track and lodges.

All businesses can now potentially benefit from corporate days at the site – and not just through the positive publicity linked to their shared objectives of helping local communities. The community, in contrast, have a growing asset that has turned a derelict space into a Community Green Flag award-winning site that has balanced economic, social and environmental benefits.

Lafarge Tarmac recently helped the related community enterprise by providing 200 tonnes of crushed stone to relay the track. This new UK joint venture business was rewarded with having a race named after the firm at the Welsh Cup meeting during the summer. The event was televised – along with Lafarge Tarmac advertising – and promoted to more than 5,000 followers via the Valleys Regional Park marketing campaign and visitor website (www.thevalleys.co.uk). The campaign targets visitors within a two-hour drive time to promote the region as a destination for tourism.

The key lessons for community groups arising from these examples and wider business engagement on WECAN are:

Lafarge Tarmac were so pleased with this outcome that they have just provided a second tranche of support – along with two other businesses, Celtic Energy and Lewis Civil Engineering – to relocate and provide a new, small covered seating grandstand.

Trudy Launchbury, secretary of the club (which has also just won a prestigious social enterprise award from Santander), said: “We are extremely grateful to all of these businesses for their support. It is not always about the monetary aspect; simple things, such as the engineer from Lewis Civil Engineering giving up his time after working all day, enabled us to start the process.”

Wayne Evans, East Pit Opencast site manager for Celtic Energy, said: “Celtic Energy tries to support organisations in the local community. We have a long-standing and extremely good relationship with the Trotting Club and we were more than happy to support them on this occasion.”

These sentiments were echoed by Simon Morgan, Readymix Business Manager South Wales, who said: “Lafarge Tarmac Ltd, Readymix Division, recognises the herculean effort required to maintain and drive a long-term project like the ATVC community enterprise. We wish Trudy and her team every success.”

-

You need to put business priorities, challenges, values and brand FIRST in order to seek a win-win opportunity linked to the environment. A traditional ‘begging bowl’ approach has limited success!

-

Investment! Investment! Investment!

Businesses are responding to this language and approach rather than requests for ‘sponsorship’ opportunities. This is because ‘investment’ more vividly implies a return on their support and building a long-term partnership.

-

Stakeholders responsible for managing the environment need to clearly specify how businesses will benefit if they provide support.

-

Businesses are not intrinsically evil or greedy just because most are purely driven by profit. We should champion all businesses that give something back to nature and society or offset the impact of their actions.

The challenge to businesses and environmental bodies now is to think more innovatively in terms of how they can both benefit from a closer relationship based on connecting with nature.

The recent combined Green Space Wales Seminar and Green Flag Awards event at Margam Park, which involved parks professionals teaming up with Keep Wales Tidy, provided many clues and was supported by a range of businesses, including Moles Seeds, Complete Weed Control, Playdale, Thane Cemetery Services, Wrenvale and Prestige Kiosks.

On the one hand, local authority green-space managers were urged by Tim Peppin, Director for Sustainable Development, WLGA to: “Sweat their assets and explore the business opportunities their green spaces provide.”

His sentiments were supported by impressive examples from Green Flag Award-winning sites, such as Margam Country Park (with Go Ape) and Dare Valley Country Park (e.g. franchises involving a Combat Zone and weddings).

On the other hand, WECAN’s Mr Burkhard referred to Rhymney Brewery’s desire to promote its’ visitor centre as the catalyst to encourage the Brewer to financially support four varied initiatives linked to the outdoors. This included an innovative gift pack, containing champion beers of Wales and an engraved glass, co-branded with Dark Sky Wales (an organisation that aims to inspire people and businesses to enjoy and learn about the night sky), with the proceeds spilt to support projects linked to the natural environment.

In conclusion, we all need to value nature more for individual, social and economic well being.

The cost to society of doing nothing to sustain green space is stark. For example, insufficient physical activity costs the UK £8.2bn a year, according to Mike Grace, Head of Sustainable Land Use, Natural England, 2013.

Likewise, the private-sector led Ecosystems Markets Task Force reported back to the UK Government, in March 2013, on the opportunities for UK businesses from expanding green goods, services, products, investment vehicles and markets which value and protect nature’s services. The UK Government’s response included proposing a joint roadmap, scheduled for 2014, which will support the integration of natural capital (the environment) in business accounting.

In short, there is a timely and pressing opportunity to engage businesses and other solutions to support green space and biodiversity in Wales. Can you afford to do nothing?

For more information go online to: www.wefundthevalleys.com or contact Phil Burkhard on 07816 756 509.

65

Really Pro offers accredited and bespoke training solutions for Community, Voluntary and Third Sector organisations. Our services are designed to develop the skills of employee’s and individuals. We help organisations and communities realise their potential with alternative training and development solutions that make a difference.

Training & Development Solutions Sector Solutions Really Pro offers sector specific training solutions for Community, Voluntary and Third Sector organisations who manage, supervise and engage with community groups and social entities. Our training solutions are delivered by experienced individuals with years of ‘hands on’ expertise and ‘know how’ which makes our solutions stand out from other providers.

We offer training solutions in: -

Leading Community Groups & Projects Effectively

-

Managing People & Volunteers

-

Bespoke Coaching & Mentoring Programmes

For more information about the range of course we offer please email: info@reallypro.c o.uk or call us today!

Individuals & Groups Really Pro offers a range of accredited and bespoke 1 day and half day courses to help develop socially excluded groups of people, and to up skill young people so they are able to re-enter the employment market. We have a range of indoor and outdoor courses designed to develop positive employability skills to enhance future employment prospects.

We offer training for: -

Adults

-

Young People (NEET – Not in education, employment or training)

-

Vulnerable People

For more information about the range of course we offer please email: info@reallypro.c o.uk or call us today!

Call Really Pro today: 0844 870 7568 Email: info@reallypro.co.uk

G R E A T

D E S I G N

W I L L

S A V E

T H E

W O R L D

WE COME RECOMMENDED:

Hoodoo Design are a fantastic graphic design company.

They work fast and deliver impeccable quality content that is always true to brief.

They understand company culture and require little to no changes, which is something that is rare in our industry! Happy to recommend them to everyone and anyone, they are a joy to work with, always positive and professional!

Sophia Holland - Thomas Online Marketing Coordinator - Peacocks Ltd -

Hoodoo Design are an outstanding design agency.

Not only are they fast they are efficient too. Sometimes our brand can be very difficult and change briefs at the last minute, however the Hoodoo Design team are very happy to take this on board and make the changes very quickly.

Their creative ideas and designs are simply stunning and as a result of their design work we have received more visitors to our site and our click rates have risen. We are reliant upon the design team to use their own incentives to create designs for us, with very little ideas put forward!

Very happy to recommend to anyone. Hoodoo Design are fast, competent and their creative flare is simply outstanding!

CLAIRE St. JOHN E-Commerce Marketing Assistant - Jane Norman -

68