A new era in Welsh business support

A new era in Welsh business support will go live this week with a single flexible investment fund and in my opinion it couldn’t come sooner.

The funding situation in Wales until now has been one of utter confusion. There were so many funding providers out there that it added to the stress of starting your own business.

So, why hasn’t public funding in private business worked? I believe there are some key points:

1. Those in the public sector did not understand the needs of the private sector.

2. The private sector was not consulted as to how funding should be distributed.

3. Businesses that would have otherwise failed in the commercial world became support companies (making a lot of money in the process) and ended up advising other businesses.

The big question that people are asking is, ‘Is it going to work this time’? Without doubt, having a central investment fund will be vital to the success of the funding system in Wales. I am certain that the confusion that existing until now will evaporate somewhat and we will be left with a cleaner, neater system.

There is one thing that bothers me though. The plan is to have 200 business relationship managers in place to assist businesses with finding out what finding is available. These 200 managers are going to be sourced from within existing funding programmes or reallocated from within the public sector. Why is it that funding for private business will be allocated by those in the public sector with little or no knowledge of business?

Aside from this negativity, I am going to remain positive. Government is always slow moving and a change in the investment fund system can only be positive.