THE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 6 2017
35 Business
‘Positive Welsh market’ FINANCE WALES has helped
create or safeguard more than 2,000 Welsh jobs since the start of April 2016. More than £26.7 million has
been directly invested into Welsh small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with an additional £23.1 million leveraged from private sources since new Chief Executive Giles Thorley took over the helm. “We’re finding that
the
business market in Wales is still positive despite the longer term uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote,” explained Chief Executive Giles Thorley. “There is a great entrepreneurial spirit here. Since joining the Finance Wales team in April, I have been impressed by the tenacity and ambition of business owners and companies in Wales. Since then, we’ve supported 26 start-up companies as well as continuing to invest in a number of early stage and established businesses.”
£990 MILLION MANAGED BY FINANCE WALES
Finance Wales, one of the
UK’s largest regional funders of development finance, now manages close to £1 billion across all SME investment funds and Help to Buy – Wales. In the last 12 months, Finance Wales launched the European Regional Development Fund and Welsh Government-backed £136 million Wales Business Fund and a new £25 million Wales Management Succession Fund, as well as having a number of other funds increased. “We’ve supported more than 100
Welsh companies with succession and we’re seeing more come through the door since the launch of the Wales Management Succession Fund in April,” explained Thorley. “There are a lot of ambitious management teams eager to keep successful Welsh businesses alive and kicking. We’re also finding business owners, looking to move on, working with existing talent in their teams. Family businesses, especially in the tourism sector, are realising their options through our succession funding.” Businesses in Wales can apply
to Finance Wales for debt, equity and mezzanine finance. Funding starts from £1,000 and goes up to £3 million per investment round. Up to £5 million can be invested in any one SME over multiple funds and rounds. “In the past six months,
we’ve been able to help a number of ambitious Welsh businesses through investments, creating or safeguarding thousands of jobs,” said Finance Wales Chairman Gareth Bullock. “Finance Wales has also achieved close to a 1:1 ratio of private sector leverage since April. Our investment teams have worked closely with banks and other funders to deliver for SMEs in Wales. We’re looking forward to building on our existing co-investment relationships as well as creating new ones over the next six months.” Since it was founded in 2001,
Finance Wales has helped create or safeguard 43,697 jobs, having invested £409 million across more than 2,650 businesses.
Get your team active
by Lee Eynon, Mind Cymru GOING back to work in
January after the Christmas holidays is always a challenge. It’s dark, it’s wet, you’re feeling sluggish after the festive excess, and you’ve got all those bits of work you put off until ‘after Christmas’ to catch up with. Every January, the press seize
upon the idea of ‘Blue Monday’ – the supposed most ‘depressing’ day of the year. While this may seem logical given the uphill struggle of returning to work, there’s actually no scientific basis to the idea, and it really does trivialise what for many people is a serious condition. In reality, no one day is more ‘depressing’ than another, and feeling a bit down really isn’t the same thing as depression. The fact is many people do face
problems with their mental health at work throughout the year. Around one in six people will
experience mental health problems such as anxiety and depression in the workplace, with one in five admitting that they’d called in sick due to work stress. Aside from the potentially very serious effect on the individual’s
well-being, it also has a negative effect on businesses through lost working days and staff turnover. While individuals have a role to
play in staying well at work, there are lots of ways that employers can help their staff stay mentally healthy. Perhaps one of the most cost
effective is taking steps to improve physical health in the workplace. Good mental and physical health
are very strongly linked. Getting enough exercise leads to the release of feel-good hormones called endorphins that can calm anxiety and help lift mood. It’s also an excellent stress reliever, and can help us think more clearly and improve self-esteem – all of which are a benefit in the workplace. Starting a staff running club or
sports team is a great way of keeping staff both mentally and physically healthy. It’s cheap, and has the added bonus of helping with team building. This sort of strenuous exercise
isn’t for everyone of course. But you don’t have to run a marathon or climb a mountain to experience benefits (though you can do both at Mind if you are that way inclined). Running a campaign to encourage
staff to take simple steps like walking to work instead of driving, getting off the bus a stop or two early or just taking the stairs instead of the lift can help get the endorphins flowing too. Weather permitting, even a group walk at lunchtime through a nearby park can work wonders – some research suggests just being outdoors in the fresh air makes a difference to mental health. I’m pleased to say that we practice
what we preach at Mind Cymru – every other Wednesday we have ‘PE in the park’ during our lunch break. We each pitch in a couple of pounds for a subsidised hour-long training session in the park over the road from the office. We’ve taken part in all sorts of
activities from penalty shoot-outs during the European Championships to athletics during the Olympics. It keeps us physically fit, helps relieve stress and brings the team together – often through a bit of healthy competition! This year, why not take some
steps to get your team physically and mentally healthier? Your organisation could benefit from a happier, healthier, more productive workforce.
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