Identifying, understanding and mitigating risks are all on the menu at an upcoming conference for Welsh food and drink producers.
The conference, hosted by the Food & Drink Wales Scale Up Programme, takes place on 6th February in Swansea, at Amgueddfa Cymru’s National Waterfront Museum.
Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies commented:
“Wales produces some of the best food in the world, and our producers have shown great resilience over recent years in responding to many risks and challenges, including the pandemic, EU Exit, escalating input prices and supply chain issues caused by geo-political events, to name a few. It is clear that business leaders in our food and drink sector must be agile and strategic in anticipating and responding to risks in a way that allows them to continue to grow and be both economically and environmentally sustainable.
“I am delighted that this conference, supported by Welsh Government, will shine a spotlight on a range of risks and challenges, and explore practical ways to mitigate those risks and help improve the resilience of our food and drink businesses, which are so vital to our overall Welsh economy.”
The Food & Drink Wales Scale Up Programme is delivered by BIC Innovation, on behalf of Welsh Government.
Commenting on the conference, BIC Innovation’s Managing Director, Linda Grant, said:
“Our engagement with food and drink businesses starts with understanding their external and internal environment including the risks facing them – the aim of the Scale Up Programme is to help businesses overcome challenges and support them on a path to sustainable growth.
“Conference delegates can expect to hear from expert speakers and industry panellists focusing on economic, financial, climate, cyber, and commercial risks. But more importantly, we will be exploring practical solutions which both small and large businesses can implement to help mitigate and manage down those risks.”
Nigel Williams, Finance Director at Castell Howell Foods, will be speaking at the conference:
“As a large food wholesale business supporting our public and private sector customers, we have to be a resilient business that our trading partners can rely on. And that means thinking about ‘what could possibly go wrong’ and making sure we have contingencies in place to ensure that we can deal with those scenarios with no disruptions to our customers. Taking time to consider risks is a vital part of our strategic and tactical planning, as well as having risk-based procedures embedded throughout our business. I am looking forward to sharing some of our learnings with delegates at the conference.”
