In her column for Caerphilly Observer, businesswoman and Welsh ICE director Mandy Weston takes a look at current business news.
I was delighted to see the preservation of Crumlin’s Navigation Colliery has been secured by £60,000 in funding from the Welsh Government.
Heritage experts described the site earlier this month as a ‘nearly complete colliery complex of national importance’, and I couldn’t agree more.
The changes experienced across our traditional industrial landscape show no signs of slowing down and it will become increasingly important to ensure our future generations are reminded of how Caerphilly County residents used to live and work years ago.
Tourism, manufacturing, retail and the rise of the small business model offer our young people a very different Caerphilly than the one perhaps even their own parents knew as a child.
More than 100 people now call Welsh ICE their place of work after the number of small businesses based there went from zero to 50+ in the past year alone, for example.
Here at the centre, we are also celebrating the success of our very own young entrepreneur and Captain of Innovation, Gareth Iwan Jones, who has been shortlisted for this year’s South Wales Business Awards.
Gareth himself has worked tirelessly over the past year to make sure opportunities for Caerphilly’s budding entrepreneurs continue to come through.
We are also thrilled that Welsh ICE member business Sobytes, which provides web services and mobile applications, has been shortlisted to appear in front of a panel of investors that are offering £275,000 in funding collectively at The Pitch UK competition next week.
On a personal note, I also spent a very entertaining day at Ystrad Mynach’s New Cottage Dance Centre this month meeting professional dancers and eight members of the South Wales business community that have bravely agreed to appear in our very own ‘Strictly Top Dancer Competition’.
Our volunteers met their dancers for the very first time and have embarked on a four-month training regime ahead of a glittering final to be held in February to raise money for Breast Centre Wales.
As a Breast Centre Wales committee member, I can’t thank those that have agreed to take part enough. More details on how you can support this worthy cause are also on our Strictly Top Dancer Facebook page.