The third annual Wales Start-Up Awards were recently launched.

The Wales Start-Up Awards were launched in 2016 by Professor Dylan-Jones Evans OBE and Liz Brooks, managing director of Grapevine Event Management in order to recognise the achievements of the entrepreneurial individuals who have spotted the opportunity and taken the risks to launch a new product or service.  Their contribution to job creation, creativity and innovation in the Welsh economy often goes unnoticed hence the creation of these awards.

The closing date for nominations is 6^th July 2018 with a ceremony to be held at The Depot, Cardiff on 21^st September, 2018.

For full details of all the categories and eligibility criteria go to https://www.walesstartupawards.com/awards/2018

The next round of a funding scheme for events has been launched by Carmarthenshire County Council.

Funding is open to those who currently organise or who wish to organise events, and could offer a maximum of £5,000 – at up to half of the total cost – where the event will make an impact on the economic development of Carmarthenshire.
Communication support can also be offered.

The fund is part of the council’s events support strategy which offers a range of activities to help organisers and boost events in the county.

Events that enhance certain strategic objectives such as the county cycling strategy, town and village of culture events and the Visit Wales Year of the Sea are encouraged to apply.

Last year, the fund supported 16 events across Carmarthenshire, bringing an impact of around £1.17 million to the local economy.

Matt Page of A Cycling, who organises the annual “Battle on the Beach” Cycling event at Pembrey Country Park was one of the beneficiaries.

“Battle On the Beach draws competitors to Carmarthenshire from across the UK and Ireland as well as parts of Europe” said Matt.

“The fund enabled us to bring some additional activities to the event to improve visitor experience as well as to commission professional drone footage that we can use to promote the event more widely and professionally going forward.”

Executive board member for culture, sport and tourism, Cllr. Peter Hughes Griffiths said: “We recognise the importance of events in supporting our communities and towns, the contribution they can make to the local economy and how they attract visitors to Carmarthenshire.

“This fund is just one way we are supporting events in our county which have the most potential to meet our objectives.

“We would urge those interested who meet the criteria to apply”

For more information, visit www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/organising-events/

This group of young entrepreneurs from across Wales recently took part in an intensive three day residential Bootcamp designed to equip them with the essential skills needed to bring their business ideas to life.

Held at the Urdd Centre in Glan-llyn over the weekend of 20-22 April, Bala, 25 business minded young people aged between 18-25 too part in series of business workshops covering topics such as crowdfunding, market research and branding.

The Bootcamp is an important event in Big Ideas Wales’ calendar of activities for young people in expanding their business knowledge and supporting their aspirations to launch their own business.

Big Ideas Wales forms part of the Welsh Government’s Youth Entrepreneurship Service. Part funded by the European Regional Development Fund it helps young people aged between 5 and 25 to develop business ideas and entrepreneurial talent.

For more information visit https://businesswales.gov.wales/bigideas/about-big-ideas-wales or e-mail David at Antur Teifi – dbannister@anturteifi.org.uk

Third Application window open now 

The  Farm Business Grant (FBG)scheme is a capital grant support package, designed to help farmers in Wales improve the economic and environmental performance of their agricultural holding.

It provides a grant contribution towards items of equipment and machinery that have been pre-identified and costed and which offer clear, quantifiable benefits to farm enterprises.

The items available through the scheme cover the following five themes:

• Animal Health, Performance and Genetics
• Crop Management
• Resource Efficiency
• Energy Efficient
• ICT

The minimum grant available is £3,000 and the maximum is £12,000.

If you have applied for FBG in one of the first two application windows and your application has been selected, but did not reach the £12,000 maximum, you can apply in this or a future window.

All businesses applying for the FBG must attend aFarming for the Future event organised by Farming Connect.

FBG is only available by accessing RPW Online. To request access to RPW Online or, if you have any queries on using the online system, please call the Customer Contact Centre.

For further details on the application and supporting scheme documentation, please see the attached link:

www.gov.wales/Farm Business Grant Scheme

 

The window closes on 16 March 2018

 

Cardigan Castle was the perfect setting for a business networking event arranged by Antur Teifi in September.The event was well attended and it was encouraging to see representatives from a diverse range of organisations from the private, public and third sector keen to find out more about Antur Teifi’s broad range of business support services. Key speaker Professor Landon MD, Chairman and Research Director at MicroPharm gave an inspiring presentation and an insight into the ground-breaking work being carried out at the Newcastle Emlyn based organisation. MicroPharm produces anti-venoms for the treatment of snakebites – from the common adder and the West African carpet viper. MicroPharm are expanding and have recently opened a new facility in Cilgerran with the support of Antur Teifi. This new centre is part of a £2 million expansion programme that’ll be used for on-going research to provide much needed treatments for devastating diseases such as C.difficile and Ebola

Says Beverley Pold, Chair of Antur Teifi: “We are delighted to be a part of MicroPharm’s story. We were able to support the company in the early days by providing manufacturing facilities for their operations at the Aberarad Business Park and the recent expansion is certainly good news for the local economy with the creation of more skilled jobs in this area. It’s certainly inspiring to see a business taking advantage of local talent and support thriving on a global scale.”

 

Committed2Equality is the national Diversity Assured accreditation body which aids, confirms and recognises commitment to equality and diversity in the workplace. For more information about the scheme click here http://www.c2e.co.uk/

We are pleased to announce that Antur Teifi has been awarded Disability Confident Employer status for a further two years. This accreditation acknowledges our commitment to ensuring that the disabled, or those with long term health conditions, have the opportunity to fulfill their potential and realise their aspirations. The Disability Confident scheme aims to help employers make the most of the opportunities provided by employing disabled people. It is voluntary and has been developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives.​ For more information about the scheme visit

www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign

Antur Teifi has once again been successful in gaining the Cyber Essentials Certificate. After completing all the necessary requirements Antur Teifi will now be able to proudly display the *CREST badge to show that it is actively protecting the business against cyber threats.

Thank you to the Telemat IT Support team for their guidance in our successful retention of the Cyber Essentials accreditation this year again.

*The approved accreditation body under the UK Government Cyber Essentials scheme.

The National Tourism Awards for Wales celebrates the best of Wales’ tourism – showcasing Wales’ tourism businesses and the industry’s achievements.

The awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, 8 March 2018 at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport and nominations are now being invited in the range of categories outlined below.

Categories for the awards are:

• best hotel
• best bed & breakfast
• best self-catering
• best caravan, camping or glamping
• best attraction
• best activity
• best event
• best place to eat
• best destination
• young tourism person of the year
• tourism business innovation award

Nominations close on the 12th of January, 2018.  For more information visit https://businesswales.gov.wales/news-and-blogs/news/national-tourism-awards-wales-2018