Author: Rhys Gregory

Tramshed Tech, the Cardiff-based co-working space, has partnered with Hodge and FinTech Wales, the not-for-profit association for the FinTech and Financial services industry in Wales, to launch the ”Fintech Wales Forum”. The three organisations will be working collaboratively on a series of events that will run throughout 2020, bringing together innovative start-ups and established businesses to develop solutions to common challenges. Aiming to provoke discussions around some of these challenges, these events will provide potential solutions and support interaction between problem owners and solutions providers. The first roundtable was held in January and focused on machine learning and bots and…

North Wales’ largest housing association, Adra (previously known as Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd) has just completed a refinancing deal worth £155m with new lenders. The company, with its headquarters in Bangor, is a leading north Wales supplier of social and affordable housing and was established in 2010 to take on the housing stock from Gwynedd Council.  Adra was previously known as Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (CCG) and is the largest housing association in north Wales. The housing association manages over 6,400 homes. As the demand for affordable homes and homes for social rent is set to increase across north Wales, securing £155m…

The Welsh Government has promised to look into the feasibility of three projects to boost enterprise and jobs in Bridgend. Following a meeting with the Ford Bridgend Task Force yesterday, Welsh Economy Minister Ken Skates said there are 21 businesses who have expressed an interest in the 1.2M sqft Ford site when production ends at the Bridged plant in September. He confirmed £100,000 of public money will be invested in the local area and region to encourage enterprise among the 1,200 Ford workers who will lose their jobs but want to remain working, also boosting businesses in Bridgend town centre and…

Award-winning Cardiff communications agency Effective Communication is one of the first Public Relations providers in Wales to be recognised as a Leading Employer by prominent gender equality charity, Chwarae Teg. Over the past year, Effective Communication – which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary – has been taking part in the game-changing Agile Nation2 Business Programme. The Llandaff-based company has built a workplace where all employees work to their highest potential while improving gender equality and diversity. The award is in recognition of Effective’s 11 employees regarding and rating the business’ practices and procedures as consistent with the FairPlay Employer Award©’s…

Stuart Price of Quantum Advisory has urged the government to prioritise the introduction of the long-awaited pensions dashboard or risk a future pension crisis.

Huge news for football fans: the official Emirates FA Cup trophy is coming to Cardiff this week, and it’s all thanks to Deliveroo. Locals can head over to The Grazing Shed on Thursday 23rd, after the restaurant scored enough votes to make it one of only five restaurants in the UK to host the Cup next week. Last year, the food delivery company partnered with the FA to become the proud partners of the England men’s & women’s teams. As part of the deal, Deliveroo also partnered with the world’s oldest domestic cup competition, the Emirates FA Cup. To celebrate,…

A former care worker with Alzheimer’s Disease tracked down an old school pal who’s a famous TV director to make a touching documentary programme to prove there is life after dementia. Mother-of-three and grandmother-of-five Eirlys Smith, 59, from Menai Bridge, on Anglesey, lost touch with Tim Lyn, 58, who now lives in Llansteffan, near Carmarthen, nearly 50 years ago but she found him again on Facebook. The result is a “hugely emotional and often hilarious rollercoaster of a programme”, Eirlys, Dementia a Tim (Eirlys, Dementia and Tim), made by Caernarfon-based television production company Cwmni Da which will be shown on…

Principality Building Society has joined Stonewall Cymru’s Diversity Champions programme, to reinforce its commitment to being an LGBT+ inclusive business. The Diversity Champions programme, developed by the UK’s leading LGBT charity Stonewall, aims to support employers in ensuring all LGBT colleagues, customers, clients and service-users are accepted without exception. The programme provides expert advice, support and training to ensure best practice in the workplace. Stonewall Cymru is working with the Society to look at its policies, practices, staff training and community engagement so that LGBT equality is embedded throughout the organisation. Since becoming a Diversity Champion, the Society has worked…

The village of Llandybie in Carmarthenshire is the latest community in Wales to have access to some of the fastest and most reliable broadband speeds in Europe thanks to Openreach. More than 200 homes across the Bro Dinefwr village will be part of the next generation of broadband technology by Openreach. The Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP or full fibre) infrastructure will future-proof homes and businesses in Llandybie for decades to come. FTTP has the potential to bring speeds of up to one gigabit per second (1Gbps), which is about 18 times faster than the current UK average. The faster speeds will allow…

Cardiff and Vale College student William Davies has been awarded the title Ford Panel Apprentice of the Year.  The Apprentice of the Year awards is one of the biggest dates in Ford UK’s calendar and is hosted by Skillnet at the Henry Ford Academy in Daventry. The motor manufacturing giant’s best young trainees compete in a range of tasks in front of judges. The awards are designed to celebrate the success and achievements of apprentices from a range of disciplines at all levels. The event also celebrates the dealers that employ them and provide the support necessary for apprentices to…