Twenty-one business owners and managers from throughout mid and west Wales have passed a 10-month leadership programme with flying colours.
The latest ‘class’ of SME owners are the third cohort to take part in a groundbreaking programme to develop leadership skills and business acumen that is already creating wealth and new jobs: the first 40 companies that took part saw their turnover increase by almost a third in the first 12 months.
Already this year’s graduates are reporting increases in turnover as well as other major business improvements, and several describe how the course has “transformed their business and the way they lead it.”
The LEAD Wales series of 30 programmes are being held at Swansea and Bangor Universities between here and 2015. The courses are without charge – the £8million project is provided by Swansea University with the Welsh Government and the European Social Fund.
Those in the third cohort all attended classes at Swansea University’s School of Business and Economics and they represent almost every strand of business – from a supermarket owner and language school manager through to a solicitor, specialist toolmaker, surveyor, publisher and graphic designer.
“The course has made me look again at how I lead my company,” says one graduate, Steve Edmunds. Steve is MD of Cottam and Brooks Engineering of Caerphilly – toolmakers and precision engineers supplying high quality tooling to the biggest names in the aerospace industry.
“We’ve seen a sharp rise in orders in the last few years,” he says, “as our client base has recovered from the fallout from 9/11.What I have learned on this course has enabled me to deal with that growth – not least, how to let go the reins from time to time and allow the very able people who work for me to take over key functions and give myself ‘thinking time’ to develop the company.
“You learn so much on these courses – not just from the course leaders but from the other business managers as well. Each of us brought along for discussion the problems and issues holding our businesses back; and, just by talking about them to others who have gone through similar situations, you find the answers.
“They talk about the other business owners on the course being ‘the board you couldn’t afford’ – and that’s exactly right. They’re worth their weight in gold.”
Awarding the certificates at the graduation ceremony was Professor Ian Cluckie, Pro Vice Chancellor of Swansea University. He says: “Everyone running their own business feels they are on their own, and their head is usually down, dealing with today’s problems. These courses give SME managers and owners the chance to lift their heads and see the bigger picture – to spot new opportunities and new ways of doing things.”
“I’d recommend every business owner to go on one of these courses,” concludes Steve Edmonds. “LEAD Wales has transformed the way I run my business and it could do the same for them.”
Rob Hunter, Director of Finance and Corporate Services at the Welsh European Funding Office (WEFO), also took part in the graduation ceremony. “These courses are really proving their worth,” he says, “by making Welsh companies more dynamic and creating new jobs. They are also breaking new ground: what we are achieving here in Wales – growing our business base by improving the leadership skills of our SMEs – has lessons for every developed economy.”
