Grow your own Scale up Your Business with Cywain Do you have your own business, or you’re thinking of starting one up? Read on to hear about how Cywain can help you! Not your thing? Read ahead anyway to hear from the fantastic producers that Cywain has helped, and maybe we can tempt you to a treat or two! Over lockdown, we all know someone who has turned to their craft to give them back a bit of their sanity. Due to layoffs during the pandemic, a number of people used their skills to create an extra source of income, creating an influx in small and micro businesses across Wales and the UK. According to Simply Business, new entrepreneurs have been on the rise, e.g. there has been a 157% year on year increase in requests for home baking insurance. However, many of these start-ups lack the business experience to push their business to reach its full potential. Cywain is a Menter a Busnes project designed to help small businesses grow and flourish, and since their launch in 2018, they have helped an amazing 902 food and drink businesses in Wales to grow! Cywain has supported 232 business start-ups and has provided 1055 training days to over 769 participants, specialising in helping clients to maximise their potential in a competitive world, promoting the high quality of produce Wales has to offer and the talent of its entrepreneurs. Cywain reports that they have created 118 new full-time jobs, safeguarded 4,272 jobs and that 40% of their producers are award winners. Cywain has designed the ‘Scale Up Challenge’ specifically to help these new businesses in the food and drink industry to grow. The ‘Scale Up Challenge’
supports these businesses over six weekly sessions, covering a wealth of practical advice to help smaller companies scale-up their activities to develop their business, and is part of the Covid recovery strategy to grow businesses and jobs. The sessions cover topics like having the right attitude, finance and resilience, identifying and seizing opportunities, communications and marketing, accreditation such as SALSA, and finding and using trend data. Held in collaboration with other partners such as Food Innovation Wales’ via Project HELIX, insight from experts was backed up by established Welsh food and drink producers who shared their experiences of forming and growing their companies. Cywain Project Manager, Dewi Evans, said, “Growing a business can be quite a steep learning curve, and the number of regulations and new skills required can be daunting at times. That’s why Cywain created the ‘Scale-Up Challenge’ – to bring all these elements together through informal topic-focused sessions.’ Thirteen companies from across Wales took part in the initial programme. Here’s what some of them told us at taste.blas about their experience and how they benefited from various aspects of the Scale-Up Challenge:
Bossa Nova - Communication Bossa Nova is an artisanal chocolate producer, aiming to bring the taste of Brazil to Wales with their Brazilian style chocolate truffles. Andrea at Bossa Nova said about her experience: ‘The Scale up challenge was excellent. I have learned so much from the speakers/presenters as well as other businesses participating. Communication is not my forte, so I have to work extra hard on it. With the support from Cywain, I recognised this and started developing my communications plan for the new brand. I have created a re-launch plan of Bossa Nova for this autumn, and I am working on a new website design and marketing plans now. The challenge also helped me refocus on direct customer strategy. I am working now towards launching my products on Amazon and increasing my digital presence on other platforms.’
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