Wales Monthly Update
1 August 2025
August has arrived, and as summer starts to slow down, it’s the perfect time to pause, reflect, and reconnect. In this month’s Wales Monthly Update, we’re taking a look back at the highlights from July and sharing what’s on the horizon across Wales in the months ahead. Don’t miss out – catch up now and stay in the loop with everything happening near you!
Campaigning and Policy Activity
Our Big Small Business Survey for Wales is live – and if you haven’t completed it yet please do so, it’s a key way for you to share your experiences and what you need us to do on your behalf for a better business environment for you. Don’t lose out, complete the survey here and please also feel free to share the link with other businesses, or from our social media feeds.
The survey will be vital to feed into our evidence for our FSB Wales manifesto for the Senedd elections in May 2026 – and we are now working on our policy agenda to shape things for the better on your behalf for the next five years.
Beyond the survey we are currently organising our members engagement (such as roundtables and events) to support this, so keep an eye out for these over next couple of months. We look forward to pushing all parties to ensure small business are central for the future in Wales.
We’ve announced the appointment of Joshua Miles as the new FSB Head of Wales. Josh's appointment follows the upcoming departure of current Head of Wales Ben Cottam, and Josh will commence his new appointment in October.
Josh, who joins FSB from his current role as Director of the Learning & Work Institute in Wales will take up his post in October and will lead our professional team across Wales, working with our volunteer members to grow FSB's networks, our support for businesses and our small business voice in the run-up to elections in Wales in 2026.
Our new report on business support in Wales, ‘Cultivating Small Business Growth’ continues to gain excellent traction and we have had positive feedback from decision makers. Thanks so
much to all small businesses who gave time to that work either through the questionnaire or in interviews, we could not have had the influence we have had without your input.
The past month saw the first meeting of FSB Wales' new Member Advisory Council. The Council, drawing from Members across Wales will be a central part of informing our work throughout Wales, whether cementing our influence and advocacy, helping grow our networks or supporting our membership. The group, chaired by FSB Wales Chair John Hurst will work in partnership with our professional team and will be the voice of our membership to ensure our work remains rooted in the needs of smaller businesses in Wales. The group comprises Jo Roberts, Dr. Mark Williams, Emma Owen-Davies, Lee Sharma, Jerry Lawson, Victoria Mann, Stephen Vickers and Ian Edwards
FSB is currently constructing a response to the Welsh Government consultation on Business Rates and the introduction of differential multipliers in Wales, and have conducted focus groups to help us gather evidence on this area that has such impact on businesses across Wales. If you would like to contribute your thoughts on this issue or the proposals, please email Wales@fsb.org.uk
North Wales Update: Mike Learmond
July started with a brilliant event – the North Wales Social Business Expo 2025, organised by Dave Ledward of NW Social and Rob Lewis of Celtic Financial Planning Ltd. Held at Mold Rugby Club, the event was filled to capacity with exhibitors and visitors and FSB was delighted to support this pilot. Darren Gallimore, FSB Member Advisor, gave an outstanding presentation on the many benefits of FSB membership. Congratulations to all involved, and if you were not able to attend, don’t worry. Another one is already in the planning stage!
Later in the month we held another of our popular FSB Business Breakfasts in Northop Business School, hosted by Coleg Cambria and hosted by BCRS Business Loans. It was exciting to hear from FSB member Rob Boyns about his plans to cycle from Melbourne to Sydney in aid of Motor Neurone Disease. You can find more information about this epic fundraising here.
After attending a panel meeting of Gwynedd County Council Shared Prosperity Funding, here is my regular reminder to check your local authority website to see if there is any grant funding or other business support available to you. Support is patchy with tight deadlines during this transition period, so please do check regularly. We are hoping that support will be longer term once we enter into the new funding period next year, but in the meantime, do please do check.
We attended the online launch of Bangor University Business Clinic in July also. Through The Business Clinic, both established and emerging business owners gain access to the knowledge, skills, and insights of leading academics and talented students, fostering innovation and growth.
July, of course, is the start of the summer show season with the Royal Welsh Show. We attended as guests of the MOD and it was really interesting to hear the business benefits of employing veterans and reservists. Please contact Mike Learmond if you would like to know more.
Looking forward to August, we are taking a break from our regular Business Breakfast (back in September) but we will be attending the National Eisteddfod, having stands at the Anglesey and Denbigh & Flint Shows and will still be hosting our fortnightly virtual networking sessions. See you there!
South Wales Update: Rob Basini
Despite approaching the holiday season, July continued to be a busy time. As well as contributing to economic development groups such as the Regional Skills Partnerships across Wales, to make sure that the voice of small business is heard, we also exhibited at the Welsh Business Show at Parc y Scarlets in Carmarthenshire, and hosted our FSB South East Wales Business Networking event in Cardiff on the same day. Our regular virtual networking events continue to be well attended and to receive positive feedback, and it was a pleasure this month to host our South
Wales Valleys Networking event at Case UK’s venue in Merthyr Tydfil. A big thank you to all of the team at Case UK and The Busy Group for their hospitality.
Our speakers at our two in-person events this month, Mel Evans of Insight6 and Ali Dawson of The Busy Group, gave fantastic presentations on the importance of looking after customers and the links between personal well-being and doing well in business respectively.
It's also been a pleasure this last month to be out and about visiting various FSB members and to discuss what's going on for their businesses.
We're really looking forward to hosting our Carmarthenshire Business Networking event at Yr Egin on August 8, thanks to Carmarthenshire County Council for their support in hosting this event.
And of course, we can't wait for our FSB South Wales Small Business Conference on 3 September at the Swansea.com Stadium. We have a fantastic lineup of speakers during the day and we are sure that the event will assist businesses in retaining and winning more work, which are two key areas of focus for the conference this year. Don't forget that early booking for this event is strongly recommended!
Upcoming Events
Wales Virtual Networking, Thursday 7 August, 1-2pm
Join us at our first virtual networking event of the month and become part of our wonderful online networking community at our Wales Virtual Networking sessions, the perfect dynamic and engaging setting to grow and diversify your business connections. Held fortnightly on a Thursday afternoon, this is your chance to expand your network, share valuable insights and collaborate with our diverse virtual community of business professionals from Wales and across the UK. The event is open to all and FREE to attend.
Carmarthenshire Business Networking, Friday 8 August, 9.00am – 11.45am
Enjoy the opportunity to connect with other businesses from across the Carmarthenshire area at this in-person networking event, brought to you by FSB and Carmarthenshire County Council, funded by UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund. Hear from our guest speaker Julia Hayward, Director of Daisy Chain Consulting, who will discuss ‘Why is Culture so Vital to Small Business Success?’, alongside explaining the benefits of doing so. Both FSB members and nonmembers are welcome to attend, tickets always sell quickly for this one so make sure you don’t miss out!
Wales Virtual Networking, Thursday 21 August, 1-2pm
Join us for the second time this month by embracing the virtual networking scene with us at our Wales Virtual Networking sessions, the perfect dynamic and engaging setting to grow and diversify your business connections. Held fortnightly on a Thursday afternoon, this is your chance to expand your network, share valuable insights and collaborate with our diverse virtual community of business professionals from Wales and across the UK. The event is open to all and FREE to attend.
FSB South Wales Small Business Conference 2025, Wednesday 3 September, 9am – 3.30pm
Don’t miss out on attending our South Wales Small Business Conference, the annual event providing a fantastic opportunity to elevate your business with a full day of networking, learning and growth. With a focus on retaining and winning more business, a stellar line-up of guest speakers will provide insightful discussions, whilst our host Gemma Casey, from Business News Wales, will guide us seamlessly through the day. Sponsored by Welsh Government, Ministry of Defence, Swansea Bay City Deal and Business News Wales, this event is FREE to attend, for FSB members and non-members, but early booking is essential so book your place today!
North Wales Business Breakfast, Tuesday 16 September, 9.30am – 11am
Our in-person networking in North Wales returns with our popular regular monthly North Wales Business Breakfast events. This monthly networking meet-up, this month taking place on Tuesday 16 September in Busnes@LlandrilloMenai, Bangor, offers a prime opportunity to forge meaningful business connections, in a professional environment. Come along and network, collaborate, promote your services and support each other as well as hearing from our guest speaker. Open to all, both FSB members and non-members.
