Member Article

Buoyant outlook for 2018 for fast-growing economic development specialist

Greater depth of consultancy from highly-qualified specialists, together with a fully bi-lingual delivery, are among reasons that a fast-growing business support service has seen significant growth during 2017, says its chief executive.

And Menter a Busnes’ Alun Jones says that, thanks to some longer-term contracts, it is now in a ‘very good position’ to continue developing its commercial services and signing up more new customers, even during the period of expected uncertainty.

He also noted that among recent trends, there was an increasing willingness among Welsh enterprises to adopt open-minded attitudes in order to capitalise on new opportunities.

Mr Jones also predicted that scaling up production in some sectors, plus developing markets in England, could both help Welsh producers grow in 2018. “Take the food sector for example, the London market, as well as the populations immediately across Offa’s Dyke, offer plenty of untapped potential” he says.

An independent company that helps individuals, companies and organisations in Wales to contribute towards developing the economy, Menter a Busnes has recently seen an expansion in demand for its Mabis specialist advisory services including human resources, tendering support and business growth sevices.

Menter a Busnes has built a strong track record in delivering significant public-funded enterprise schemes, particularly for micro and SME businesses in agriculture, fisheries and food.

Headquartered in Aberystwyth and with offices in Bangor, St Asaph, Welshpool and Cardiff, the company’s customers range from major Welsh institutions, through to small businesses as varied as rural start-up food producers or nightclubs in Cardiff.

Mr Jones added: “We’ve got well established expertise in serving certain sectors such as food and farming and we’ve also made a conscious effort to move away from general business support, to deliver in-depth expert consultancy and it’s really paying off.”

He advised Welsh organisations seeking to grow, to scale up operations, adopt succession planning, and to understand that having employees with the right attitudes and skills can make the biggest difference to performance and profitability.

Mr Jones added: “Micro- and SMEs are the backbone of the Welsh economy, and some are understandably fearful about prospects and how to grow their operations. I’d like to give them reassurance that intermediaries such as ourselves are here to help during the uncertain period ahead”.

“From a Menter a Busnes perspective, we’re finding that our position of working closely with Welsh Government means businesses come to us to get answers on lots of topics under one roof.”

Menter a Busnes, which runs the Cywain and Farming Connect programmes among others, recently launched Agora, a two-year project to help producers of goods grown, grazed or made across 11 local authority areas in mid and south-east Wales.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Harris .