Over the next few weeks as we approach the Senedd elections in May, many organisations will be putting forward ideas on how the next Welsh Government can make a difference to the nation. Given the importance of new and smaller businesses to the Welsh economy as we emerge out of the pandemic, our next group of politicians should read the recent proposals from Purple Shoots, a not-for-profit micro finance organisation that provides small business loans at fair rates. With an impressive track record over the last seven years, they have helped to fill a real gap in access to finance to the newest and smallest firms and, in doing so, have made a real difference to the ambitions of those from the poorest communities who want to start their own businesses. One of their suggestions is to divert one per cent of the £270m recently given to the Development Bank of Wales by the Welsh Government towards funding new microbusinesses employing less than ten people. Using their own success as an exampl...
Entrepreneurship, innovation and the economy