Business in Focus supports over 100 Welsh businesses as part of the Vale of Glamorgan, Innovation in Procurement Project

The Innovation in Procurement project has helped to link up small businesses with job opportunities with the Vale of Glamorgan Council. It has helped to dispel the myth that only big businesses can work with big clients; of the 120 businesses that attended the Meet the Buyer sessions all were small, micro or hyper micro and all were given advice on how to connect with opportunities for work.

Supporting the Foundational Economy (SME's, micro and hyper micro businesses) within the construction sector across Wales, the Vale of Glamorgan project funded by the Community Renewal Fund, aimed to guide business owners to overcome barriers to tender through in-person and online events, identified skills gaps and training needs, and created an online directory of 216 businesses wanting to work directly with the Vale of Glamorgan Council.

The project also included two successful ‘Meet the Buyer’ events, in Cowbridge and Barry, where over 100 businesses signed up to discuss opportunities to tender with representatives from the council.

Lis Burnett, Executive Leader and Cabinet Member for Performance and Resources for Vale of Glamorgan Council, commented:

“The Meet the Buyer events organised by Focus Futures, in partnership with the Vale of Glamorgan Council Procurement team and heads of service in the construction industry, were a fantastic example of how we can work with local businesses on various contracts that we put out to tender.

“Both events were very busy with business owners keen to discuss upcoming projects and find out how they can get involved. This is something we would like to bring to other areas of the Vale of Glamorgan as well, and we’re excited to plan this moving forward.”

Business in Focus Chief Executive, Phil Jones said: 

“We are delighted to have completed the Innovation in Procurement Project in partnership with the Vale of Glamorgan Council, and we are thrilled that the Team has actually overdelivered on targets. We welcomed over 250 businesses to our in-person and online events, provided direct support to 120 of them, and we have 50 businesses signed up for specialist one-to-one support with our Business Advisors.

“The Team has worked incredibly hard to help start-ups, growing and established businesses across Wales find out how to become part of the Vale of Glamorgan’s supply chain.”

Business in Focus was awarded the contract to deliver the Vale of Glamorgan Innovation in Procurement UK Community Renewal Fund Project in March, 2022 and completed it in July, 2022.