PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

This year, the Wales Fast Growth 50 publishes the twenty fourth listing of the fastest growing Welsh firms at a time when the UK economy faces some difficult headwinds due to a combination of higher energy prices, increasing inflation and a subdued business environment. That is why this year’s awards are more important than ever. With every business reconsidering their strategies for the future when uncertainties remain as to the future growth of the economy, the fifty firms featured in this magazine continue to be role models for others to follow in their footsteps. As with every firm that has featured on the Fast Growth 50, they make an incredible contribution to prosperity, employment, and innovation across the Welsh economy.  And they now become part of group of 701 entrepreneurial firms that, since we started charting their development in 1999, are estimated to have created 55,000 jobs and generated an estimated £30 billion of additional turnover, much of which is spent in the...

It would be an understatement to say that the last three years have been challenging for businesses in the UK. Brexit, the Covid pandemic and the war in the Ukraine are just three occurrences which have had, and will continue to have, significant long-term implications for those running companies across the country.  These ‘one-off’ events are compounded by other longer-term trends which Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) must build into their company strategies going forward, including climate change, the continuous search for talent and the impact of new technology on the way they do business. Understanding how business leaders are reacting to the changing global economic situation is the focus of the latest 2022 CEO Outlook from global accountants KPMG which examines the perspectives of 1,325 global CEOs to provide a detailed insight into how they view the business and economic landscape changing over the next three years. In terms of the economy, the survey suggests that 85% of gl...

Next week, we close the search for the fastest growing firms in Wales which will culminate in a glittering awards ceremony in Cardiff later this year where the achievements of some of the most entrepreneurial Welsh firms will be celebrated. The Wales Fast Growth 50 recognises those group of high growth businesses that make a disproportionate contribution to jobs and wealth creation in the Welsh economy.  Since the project was established in 1999, the 674 entrepreneurial firms that have appeared on the lists published in the Western Mail are estimated to have created 48,000 jobs and generated an estimated £27 billion of additional turnover, much of which is spent in their local area.  One of the myths about entrepreneurship that the success of any high growth company is down to one individual, namely the founder. In fact, the myth of the entrepreneurial hero still holds sway in our imaginations and popular culture with individuals such as Richard Branson, Elon Musk, Mark Zucker...

Since the day Russian tanks rolled across the border into Ukraine, nations across the World have been going the extra mile to support the people of that resilient nation.  Whilst governments and politicians have imposed sanctions and cut diplomatic ties, the private sector has also responded to the ongoing situation mainly through the withdrawal of major global businesses from Russia.  As a result, the Institute of International Finance estimated that the Russia's economy will shrink 15% this year and 3% in 2023, wiping out fifteen years of economic gains. Whether that will eventually have any effect on the current situation is anyone’s guess but with over a thousand Western businesses having left, or are in the process of leaving, all sectors of the Russian economy have been hit hard by those large corporations ending their links with the country. In energy, BP is divesting its multi-billion pound stake in Russian oil firm Rosneft and Shell is ending its partnership with Russ...

Since 1999, I have been championing the cause of the small number of firms that grow quickly and make a disproportionate impact on prosperity and job-creation in the economy.  After launching the first ever Wales Fast Growth 50, there has slowly been an increased interest in high growth (or scale-up) firms as various research studies continue to confirm their significant contribution to the UK economy.  One of those which continues to highlight the importance of such firms is the annual review by the Scaleup Institute, which defines high-growth (scaleup) firms as those growing their employment numbers or turnover by more than 20% a year over a period of three years with at least 10 employees at the start of the period. According to their latest report published last month, there were 33,445 scaleups in the UK in 2019, which is an increase of 24% on 2013 (as against a growth in GDP of 12% over the same period).  More importantly, they employed 3.2 million people and genera...

  The search for the fastest growing Welsh firms was launched last week in the Western Mail.  The Wales Fast Growth 50 recognises those group of high growth businesses that make a disproportionate contribution to jobs and wealth creation in the Welsh economy. Since the project was established twenty-three years ago, the 652 firms that have appeared in the Western Mail are estimated to have created 44,000 jobs and to generate £25 billion of additional turnover. With various research studies showing that a small number of high growth firms -which are defined as those that are growing by more than 20% per annum - disproportionately create jobs and wealth all over the World, such businesses continue to be of interest in driving forward economic prosperity. A recent report from the Scale Up Institute found that whilst there were 1250 Welsh scale up firms, Wales had the lowest proportion of such businesses relative to the rest of the business population.  In addressing this def...

In 2020, the year that none of us will ever forget, I had considered carefully whether the annual search for the fastest growing firms in Wales should be cancelled. Certainly, it became obvious that we could not hold the annual awards dinner which is one of the highlights of the Welsh business calendar every year. However, as the economy battles to emerge from recession, it is clear that we need more than ever to celebrate the creativity, innovation and sheer determination of the best of Welsh businesses, something that was clearly emphasised by those many firms that, despite the lockdown we suffered earlier this year, wanted to be considered for the Wales Fast Growth 50. Like other businesses across Wales, the majority of those featured on the 2020 list had been hit hard by the lockdown in March and yet they have survived, recovered and, more importantly have started growing again, with a number registering their best quarter of trading during the summer. They have made significant c...

Earlier this week, the Scale Up Institute produced its annual report into the state of high growth businesses in the UK. It showed that scaleups - those businesses growing by more than 20% per annum by employee or turnover growth (or both) – continue to make a substantial contribution to the UK economy.  The research identified a total of 33,860 scaleups in the UK that generate a total turnover of £1 trillion which represents half of the total contribution by all UK SMEs despite making up less than 1% of the SME population. They also employed 3.5 million people and the total number of scale-ups has grown by more than 25% in the period 2013-2018.  Scaleups also continue to be more productive than other UK businesses across almost every sector of the economy and, more importantly, exist in all sectors with most being found in wholesale and retail, professional, scientific and technical, and admin/support services.  Whilst we have been identifying and celebrating the fastes...

At the end of this month, the first stage of the search for the 2020 Wales Fast Growth will be completed with the final list of the fastest growing Welsh firms published in the Autumn.  Whether these amazing businesses will get the opportunity to celebrate their achievements at the annual awards dinner in Cardiff is still in doubt due to social distancing restrictions.  However, this does not take away at all from the importance of this small but special group of companies to the Welsh economy as we emerge from recession. Since the economist David Birch write his seminal paper in the 1970s on the emergence of high growth firms (or gazelles as he called them) as major contributors to employment in the US economy, countless studies have shown that a small proportion of firms that grow quickly create the majority of jobs. As a result, policymakers have shown considerable interest in this group of businesses although they tend to observe high growth through a myopic lens namely th...

During the last week, the Western Mail and Wales Online has been celebrating the achievements of the fastest growing Welsh firms.  Since it was started twenty one years ago, the Wales Fast Growth 50 has grown to be the business awards that Welsh entrepreneurs aspire to more than any other. In fact, the motivations for creating this project was driven by a desire to celebrate the achievements of home grown entrepreneurs across a range of sectors and the whole of Wales. It all started after several visits to the USA in the early 1990s where I found myself buying a business magazine called INC. One of its regular features included a list of the 500 fastest growing firms in the USA and when I was appointed as Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Glamorgan in 1996, I set out to do something similar here in Wales, albeit on a smaller scale.  This was driven largely by my continuous incredulity at the lack of support for indigenous Welsh firms. Instead, the economic app...

 Last night, the 21st Wales Fast Growth 50 awards were celebrated in Cardiff highlighting a group of incredible businesses that are making an amazing contribution to the Welsh economy and demonstrating, yet again, that Welsh entrepreneurship is thriving.  At an uncertain time for the Welsh economy, it is important to demonstrate that we have some incredible firms in Wales and the awards showcase annually the entrepreneurial spirit and innovative drive of the Welsh business community.  Since the project was established in 1999, the 628 firms that have appeared on the twenty lists are estimated to have created 42,000 jobs and to generate an estimated £24 billion of additional turnover, much of which is spent in their local area.  Of course, a small number of Fast Growth 50 firms have fallen by the wayside over the last 21 years but the fact that so many are still trading successfully (and regularly return to the list every year) is testament to the hard work of their f...

At the end of next week, the search for the 2019 Wales Fast Growth 50 will close with the list being published in a special Western Mail supplement and the achievements of all fifty firms celebrated at the annual awards in Cardiff in November. Since the project was established in association in 1999, the 602 firms that have appeared from 1999 to 2018 are estimated to have created 40,000 jobs and generated an estimated £20 billion of additional turnover, much of which is spent in their local area.  To date, there have been entries from some amazing Welsh businesses based across all sectors and communities in Wales and it looks likely that record average growth rate achieved in 2018 will be surpassed this year. Given the jobs and wealth creating ability of these growth firms at a regional and national level, it is not surprising that there has been considerable interest from both politicians and policymakers in how to maximise their economic impact.  Indeed, the latest report fr...

Twenty years ago, I had this crazy idea of putting together a project that would identify and celebrate the fastest growing businesses in Wales at a time when the focus by politicians was firmly on attracting large inward investors into the Welsh economy. And so the Wales Fast Growth 50 was launched in 1999 and a small awards lunch put together for the firms at Jury’s Hotel in Cardiff with Rhodri Morgan - the then economic development minister - attending. Fast forward to 2018 and last Wednesday, the 20th list of the fastest growing firms in Wales was published following a glittering awards dinner with over 900 guests at Cardiff Motorpoint Arena. In fact, since the project was established in 1999, the 602 firms that have appeared on the twenty lists are estimated to have created 40,000 jobs and generate an estimated £20 billion into the Welsh economy, much of which is spent in their local area. Indeed, eleven previous and current fast growth 50 firms - including North Wales fir...

This year, the Wales Fast Growth 50 celebrates two decades of recognising the achievements of the fastest growing Welsh firms. And during the next few weeks, we will be announcing a very special event that will be taking place in October. Needless to say, it will aim to be the biggest event of its kind in many years and will not only commemorate 20 years of the Fast Growth 50 listings in the Western Mail but the Welsh business community as a whole. When we started back in 1998, there was very little interest in supporting indigenous businesses, never mind those firms that grow quickly. Fast forward to today and it would seem that politicians, policymakers and private companies have finally realised the significance and importance of this small group of firms to local, regional and national economies. Some of this increased interest has been supported by the work of companies such as Octopus, which has recently published its third High Growth Small Business Report and which, ...

Is Wales an entrepreneurial nation? That is the question that some still ask when it comes to assessing the growth of the economy over the last two decades. For me, the answer is an overwhelming yes, especially when we see the performance of those businesses that make the list of the fastest growing companies in Wales every year. In fact, since the project was established in 1999, the 577 firms that have appeared on the nineteen lists have been estimated to have created 38,000 jobs and to generate an estimated £20 billion of additional turnover annually, much of which is spent in their local area. That is an incredible achievement given that this growth occurs across all sizes of businesses, across all sectors and, more importantly, across all parts of Wales. Indeed, the Wales Fast Growth 50 is yet again a celebration of the best that Wales has to offer and we should all be proud of the achievements of the fifty firms which are the fastest growing firms in Wales in 2017. D...

In less than five weeks’ time, the annual rollcall of the fastest growing firms in Wales will again be revealed in a special supplement published by the Western Mail. Since 1999, the Wales Fast Growth 50 has been identifying those businesses that have shown the highest levels of growth within the Welsh economy and the 551 firms that have appeared on the lists so far have generated tens of thousands of new jobs and generate nearly £18 billion into the Welsh economy every year. Such fast-growing firms (or scale-ups) are normally defined by organisations such as the OECD as those SMEs who have reported turnover growth of 20 per cent or more in the previous year (and in each of their preceding two years). Given that such firms account for a small proportion of businesses in the UK but create the majority of jobs in the economy, policymakers have taken an increased interest in their development and are increasingly looking for ways to support such businesses. That is why a speci...

Four months ago, the UK electorate voted to leave Europe. It was a momentous decision and one that placed a direct spotlight on the ability of indigenous businesses to grow the economy over the next few years. Given this economic uncertainty, the performance of firms such as those featured on the 2016 Fast Growth 50 list is becoming more and more important in generating wealth and employment in all parts of Wales. Since the project was established in 1999, the 551 firms that have appeared on the eighteen lists have been estimated to create tens of thousands of jobs and generate an estimated £18 billion of additional turnover annually, much of which is spent in their local area. As the latest Barclays Entrepreneurial Index has shown, 23.4 per cent of the companies with annual revenue between £2.5m-£100m in Wales are designated as high growth (i.e. having a minimum 33 per cent increase in turnover over three years). This is the second highest figure in the UK and shows that you do...

This week saw the launch of the 2016 Cardiff Business Awards to celebrate the capital city’s best businesses with the winners announced at a gala dinner in Cardiff City Hall in June. As the chairman of the panel of judges for the awards, it was a real honour and pleasure to spend two days last summer listening to the shortlisted companies and their achievements. In fact, the Cardiff Business Awards is one of the few that I know of which does not rely only on paper entries written to choose the winning companies. Given the face to face interaction, making a decision on the winners of each category, never mind the overall winner, was really challenging for the judges. And whilst it was not surprising that the judges has some preconceived ideas prior to interviewing the firms from the initial application process, the majority of those minds were changed after being given an opportunity to listen directly to the founders of the shortlisted businesses. The interviews also gave th...