In her column for the Caerphilly Observer, businesswoman and Welsh ICE director Mandy Weston argues the green shoots of recovery might be starting to show.
I was delighted to see the Caerphilly Observer report this month on a former employee of the Crumlin Real Crisp factory, who wasted no time in setting up his own gardening business after the factory burned down and had no choice but to make its workforce redundant last autumn.
There is never a good time of year to be out of work, but the dark winter months are particularly well-known for offering little light to those seeking recruitment.
Thank goodness, then, that the nights are finally drawing out and the first green shoots of the new year look to finally be showing, both in the outside world and that of the local business community.
Lloyds TSB Commercial reported recently that optimism is at its strongest level since the economy initially came out of recession in 2009, and just this week the bank’s Wales Business Activity Index revealed that the private sector in Wales grew at its fastest for nearly two years last month.
The index, which measures the combined output of the manufacturing and service sectors, showed that output in Wales grew faster than in the UK as a whole.
It’s perhaps not surprising, therefore, that the likes of former Real Crisp employee Andrew Stark are not so hard to find at all.
With various support packages on offer from a range of agencies locally, would-be entrepreneurs and potential start-ups can not only take inspiration from Andrew’s story, but just as easily make it a reality too.
Welsh ICE alone has welcomed more than 25 start-up and established businesses to its site at Caerphilly Business Park in the seven months since it opened which, alongside news like that of Andrew Stark’s, just goes to show that starting and sustaining your own business need never be a pipe dream, even in the current climate.