Author: Rhys Gregory

A Welsh company which puts colour in plastics for some of the world’s biggest brands has switched its focus to helping manufacture ventilator and respirator parts for the NHS and coronavirus testing kits. Performance Masterbatches Ltd in Blaenau Gwent, which makes the colour for the Nescafe Gold Blend lids and also counts Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover and Honda among its customers, has invested in new processes to help address the coronavirus pandemic, with around 20% of its entire production line now dedicated to supporting the NHS. The Brynmawr-based company, which started out making products for food packaging but now produces…

The Covid-19 Wales Business Loan Scheme is fully subscribed after more than 1,500 applications were received in just over one week. The £100 million scheme was launched by the First Minister on Monday 30 March as part of the Welsh Government’s £500 million Economic Resilience Fund to support businesses in dealing with coronavirus outbreak. The first loans were approved within three days of the fund launch, with the first loans reaching applicants by the end of last week. The Development Bank, which manages the scheme, will be ensuring approved funds reach businesses as quickly as possible so support can get…

Businesses have received almost £150m in support grants in the first week of the business support scheme. First Minister Mark Drakeford has thanked local authorities for their help making the grants quickly available to small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Almost 11,000 firms have received funding which will be vital in helping them deal with the impact of the virus. More businesses will receive emergency coronavirus grants through their local authorities, which are distributing the funding on behalf of the Welsh Government. Retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in Wales occupying properties with a rateable value of between £12,001 and…

Faced with the  biggest challenge in its forty year history,  Gwent’s St David’s Hospice Care is making a desperate plea for support. The Newport-based hospice, which has to fund 70% of its clinical services through its events, now cancelled, and its shops, all closed, is bracing  itself for a massive spike in Covid-19 pandemic referrals. St David’s Hospice Care events raise £2.5m a year for the hospice and the shops in excess of £1m. In the face of this drastic loss of income the hospice has launched a Just Giving page to receive direct online donations so it can carry…

An after-work programme designed to support people in rural communities into starting a business has helped 39 enterprises launch in its first year. In twelve months The 5 to 9 Club™ visited Merthyr, Ebbw Vale, Pontypridd, Caerphilly, Treorchy and Aberdare where it supported 98 people, with almost half of those going on to found a business and start trading. The 5 to 9 Club is a key part of theWelsh Innovation Centre for Enterprise’s (ICE) outreach programme, as it looks to connect with potential business founders across south east Wales. The 5 to 9 Club aims to support individuals with…

Board evaluation and board development specialists Better Boards has secured a £250,000 equity investment from the Development Bank of Wales and £125,000 from a panel of four angel investors. Better Boards was first established in 2014 by Dr Sabine Dembkowski in response to increasing regulation and compliance for Board Directors.  After five years of academic and market research, the business now utilises advanced software to provide evidence-based Board evaluations for Governing Boards and Executive Committees. With a portfolio spanning the FTSE 250 and 100, clients include Easyjet, National Grid and the Go-Ahead Group. Based in the Tramshed, Cardiff’s tech-hub, the funding from…

Welsh cyber security software firm, Westgate, has secured a £500,000 investment from deep-tech venture studio, Next Big Thing AG, to successfully scale into new markets and build out further product functionality. Westgate Cyber Security is the company behind Enclave – a new patent-pending computer networking technology that helps organisations become more resilient against cyber attacks. In 2019, 32% of businesses identified breaches or attacks on their networks, according to the Government’s Cyber Security Breach Survey. Enclave, a software-as-a-service (SaaS*) product, makes connectivity within businesses and their supply chains more straightforward and secure by ensuring connecting systems are invisible to third…

Futura Foods new cheese processing site in Minffordd, North Wales, is now fully operational and will be awarded BRC AA accreditation following a successful BRC audit this week. The site is well on track to meet its plans to expand flexible added value processing capacity in the UK and support our customers to meet increased consumer demand in these challenging times. Managing Director (Futura Foods UK Ltd) Hans Christiansen says: “Futura Foods is delighted to announce that our “state of the art” added value cheese cutting and packing site in Minffordd, North Wales has been independently audited this week and…

April 2020 is a very special month for blind and partially sighted people in Britain. Although many people might not be aware of its significance, it marks the centenary of a huge step forward for the rights of people living with sight loss in Wales and the rest of the UK. On April 5th 1920, blind and partially sighted people set off from different locations across the UK and marched to London in the name of equality. Almost 40 people set off from Newport, South Wales, reaching Trafalgar Square on April 25th. Their action led to a significant change in…

Swansea University’s innovative schools’ outreach programme is in the running for a top award for its work promoting diversity in the world of science education. Technocamps, which has additional hubs at every Welsh university, has been shortlisted in the inaugural Wales STEM Award alongside other companies, projects and individuals who champion and make a difference to science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in Wales. Technocamps has been shortlisted in the category STEM Educational Programme of the Year where judges were looking for evidence of an initiative which either addresses the STEM diversity gap,  the skills shortage or seeks to inspire and…