The body responsible for developing and growing the North Wales economy is supporting the Wales Start-Up awards for the second year running.

The North Wales Economic Ambition Board is a joint committee of the six local authorities in North Wales along with Bangor University, Wrexham Glyndwr University, Coleg Cambria and Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.. It is currently working to successfully deliver the North Wales Growth Deal which aims to create up to 4,200 new jobs by 2036, support an uplift of £2.4bn for the economy over that same period, and deliver total investment of up to £1.1bn.

Alwen Williams, Portfolio Office Director of the North Wales Economic Ambition Board, believes that the Start-Up Awards are an excellent platform to showcase innovative and exciting new businesses that are emerging in Wales:

“These businesses are truly invaluable to Wales. Welsh entrepreneurs continue to inspire with their resilient and ambitious drive, we’re proud to continue as a sponsor to the Start-Up Awards and look forward to seeing these businesses prosper in the future”.

“ Start-up businesses are an important part of North Wales economy, and the Growth Deal will invest in projects that enable entrepreneurs and new businesses to compete globally.

“The stories we hear from businesses through the Start-Up Awards are truly inspiring and can demonstrate to others the opportunities that entrepreneurship provides. By working as a coalition of sponsors and supporters, we can encourage and support entrepreneurship in the business community and highlight the pathways to sustainable business growth, community, economic and social prosperity through innovation and enterprise”.

Last year’s North Wales Startup of the Year was the Enbarr Foundation which is renovating the beautiful John Summers Clock Tower in Deeside alongside the local community. It aims to restore it to its former glory and develop it into a community space for future generations to enjoy and discover their heritage as well as building the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

Its founder, Vicky Roskams is proud of the accolade that her organisation achieved through the Wales Startup awards in 2020:

“Winning the award for the North Wales Startup of the Year gave us independent recognition that rewards all the hard work of both the organisation and the community into the project and cemented the credibility of the services and support we have on offer. It also helped outline to others the expertise we have to offer and to communicate this to a wider audience as well as being a great boost in morale and show appreciation to both our team and all the stakeholders involved in the project, and the work and contribution they make.

“As with many other businesses, this year has been challenging for all and has made ourselves fast track certain parts of our project and have to in essence put parts of it on hold due to the need for social distancing and work more collaboratively with others which was always the long-term goal of this initiative and move more of our communication online. The funds and grants have been hard to gain to support the capital renovation, but then what has been miraculous has been the human intervention from both the public and business community, and how through contingency planning, and striping plans back to basics we have come out the other side more productive from less resources and promoted community wellbeing through volunteering.”

The Wales Start-Up Awards are the only awards in the UK that focus on celebrating the success of new businesses. To enter this year’s awards, companies need to have started trading on or after June 1st 2018 and be based in Wales.

For further information, go to www.walesstartupawards.com