The Brief

We completed a series of case studies on behalf of the Welsh Government in regards to businesses that they have worked with as part of the Focus Carmarthen Enterprise Hub linked with the Be the Spark projects looking to boost innovations and encourage entrepreneurship across the Welsh regions.

As part of our work demonstrating the success of the hub in addressing issues that have arisen in business, we documented some of the stories of companies who have seen the benefits of working with the hub and how they feel that their business has been elevated as a result.

There were several stories to be told as a result of the work done and the number of companies willing to tell their stories of working with government support. The people we interviewed were extremely complimentary of the support provided and we gathered a strong level of gratefulness for the support provided. We captured an authenticity amongst both business owners and those involved with the hub from the level of support that was acknowledged.

E-Development specialise in providing online training to companies and taking content from PowerPoint presentations and Word documents and making them into compelling training material. E-Development were set up following the 2008 financial crisis which offered an opportunity for Gareth to take experience gathered from his previous job to start up his own business. Gareth touched on the role that the hub has had on his business and that they have provided networking opportunities and this co-operation has provided opportunities to work with other companies on projects. With the online learning industry growing the support that the hub has provided has been crucial to helping business grow for E-Development.

NJJ Business Solutions are a construction company set up by Nicola John in order to utilise her experience in the area. The hub offered her support in starting the business and helped integrate the business into Carmarthenshire and help when it came to working from home during the COVID-19 lockdown. One thing gathered in this video was the networking opportunities that the hub provided and how great the service has been for start ups and helping develop businesses.

Reflecting on how he started UP, Dave Jones was looking for ways to fine tune the business and Hub was vital to providing support. Dave stated that the weekly briefings with Angharad were particularly of use to him in helping develop aspects of business such as finance, marketing, networking and social media. This has allowed opportunities to connect with others which has been hugely beneficial for the business.

As part of the Be the Spark initiative one of the companies that we focused on was with Tritech and how they are leading the way in healthcare innovations and have worked with Hywel Dda health board as well as Swansea University and Trinity St David in order to make a great impact on the health and technology sectors across West Wales and beyond. The company has looked to bridge the gap between the clinical world with engineers and innovators and this is addressing issues with innovations and how some sectors haven’t adapted well enough or fast enough before. Tritech have really encouraged collaboration in their work and how this is helping the company function better to make a difference across Wales.

Another company that significantly benefitted from working with Be the Spark is KEW Consulting, a Pembrokeshire based company that are creating software for companies all around the world and how innovation has been key to elevating the company. In the film we spoke to founder Thomas Kummer who has looked to and been able to provide opportunities for people to work in technology and has established relationships with UWTSD and Gwylan UK following a successful collaboration on the Sleeping Lions project. KEW have continued to expand their workforce and have consistently been innovating in order to support long term growth.

We looked at Vindico and how they are using technology to fix the issues of today and the future. Vindico have constantly sought to establish positive relationships through their work and have completed work for a range of companies. Examples of this include working with Scarlets Rugby Club to improve the matchday experience for fans and implemented the SWAPP system that helps handle how the train platforms operate for Transport for Wales. Vindico have also established relationships with local companies in the sector, in the film we touched on a project that they have been working on with KSharp and were able to secure a six-figure contract with the UK Ministry of Defence. Managing director Jo Polson emphasised that collaboration has always been at the heart of what the company does and has been integral to their success and development.

DMIW is helping support Wales in the technology sector and helping create innovative technology and support organisations within the industry. DMIW are all about creating and listening to new ideas and fixing existing and potential issues. The company have also looked to get involved with research and improving technology in Wales. One company that we documented was Celsa Steel UK and how through working with DMIW they have been able to improve their business through collaboration and everyone can share the benefits they have found through collaborating with each other to solve problems. DMIW are constantly looking at ways to solve problems and are constantly looking to collaborate to help solve the biggest issues.

KSharp are a group of human factors consultants that are looking to combine the relationship between humans and technology in order to create effective technology that places a great emphasis on putting humans at the centre of how technology functions. KSharp are looking to innovate in three ways in terms of understanding, analysing and disruption in terms of helping stand out on the market and how your brand differs to others and ensuring your business can make quicker progress. The business has found the hub very useful in terms of bringing in extra knowledge around organisations which has been hugely beneficial when working on projects and bringing a human factor as well as a technological factor. The company are committed to tackling some of the biggest issues in the world such as climate change and placing this at the heart of what they do and the support from the hub has been hugely beneficial for the business in multiple ways.

The Result

Throughout this series we successfully demonstrated how companies have benefitted from the Be the Spark initiative and how there are several different companies looking to innovate technology across Wales. These projects are all going a way to making Wales a more technologically advanced nation and championing the support that has been available to help start up a business and establish themselves.

There were several personal stories to be told as part of these case study videos with several individuals documenting why they got involved in the technology sector and the issues that they believe they have addressed and the support the hub has provided. There is clearly a huge drive to keep the best technological talent here in Wales and the hub has been crucial to doing this.

Many business owners have felt a genuine sense of support from the hub as each are looking to make a positive effect in improving standards of work and living in Wales. Many have felt that the hub has been vital to how their businesses managed to function with several ways of being supported such as in networking and marketing strategies.