Training company emerges from pandemic with bright future ahead.

“The support of Business Wales AGP has been a huge help.”

Inspiring, educating and equipping the next generation of skilled workers is at the heart of 4D Academy.

The Pontyclun-based training provider was formed when business partners Mark Davies and Christopher Saunders saw the need for a new kind of training offering for businesses. After coming through the pandemic stronger, 4D Academy is now looking ahead to an exciting future.

4D Academy has been supported through the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme (AGP). The AGP provides targeted support for ambitious growing firms. The programme is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government.

Here, co-founder Mark Davies shares his business journey, explains how they overcame the obstacles set by the pandemic and looks ahead to a bright future for 4D Academy.

Tell us about 4D Academy
The story of 4D Academy goes back to 2019 when Christopher and I identified a business opportunity for us in training.

My professional background is as a health and safety manager, and I was frustrated by how difficult it was to source quality training. That’s how we spotted a gap in the market; we both felt there was scope to offer something much more hands-on and fit for purpose.

We’re based in Pontyclun, with five staff members at present and several associates. We expect to double that team in the next 12 months as we grow. The business works with several partners to deliver various specialised training programmes throughout the UK. So we’re very excited about the future.

What are your proudest moments in business so far?
I think Christopher and I are most proud of being able to grow our business, despite the barriers we’ve faced during the pandemic. The restrictions introduced have been difficult for us, but we got through it, and we’ve been able to grow through that period too.

What challenges have you faced in business?Undoubtedly the most significant barrier the business has overcome has been the Covid crisis. I’m sure that’s a shared experience for many companies up and down the country.

We mainly operated face-to-face, which quickly had to change to a remote model as the pandemic restrictions started to take effect. So we had to refocus and find alternative ways to deliver our programmes quickly. We also had to find new ways of marketing our offering to new customers through less traditional routes because so much of our business came through referral and in-person association.

We focused on online and remote delivery, which meant we could establish ourselves through these new networks. We’ve also found LinkedIn to be a handy tool in spreading the word about what we do and winning new business.

I think the pandemic has presented all kinds of businesses with enormous challenges. But, so many of us have used this as an opportunity to change for the better. We saw it as an opportunity to be more dynamic, agile and think differently.

If you were starting again, what would you do differently?
We’d have focused the business sooner, aiming to be more proactive than reactive. The business grew so quickly that, looking back, we would have preferred to put more structure in place sooner. Things like the website and our social media presence didn’t get the attention they deserved initially.

How has support from Business Wales AGP helped your business?
Business Wales AGP has supported us with tender writing and general business guidance.

All this has been a massive help as we’ve established ourselves. It was also invaluable as we faced the issues that the pandemic threw up for us.

What advice and guidance would you give other businesses starting out?

• First, don’t be afraid to start – failing is a part of growing and trying something can only make you more experienced.

• Keep learning and looking for opportunities to grow your experience and knowledge base.

• Focus on something you do well and specialise in it before expanding – it’s better to do one thing well than several things poorly.

To learn more about 4D Academy, visit here.

Further information on the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme.

The technology start-up which aims to help us live healthier, happier lives.

“There’s plenty of good professional advice and support out there for ambitious growing businesses in Wales.”

Understanding the impact eating choices have on health, and the very individual ways those choices can affect different people, is a growing part of ensuring optimum health and well-being.

Now, entrepreneurs David Haines and Julian Shapley have developed software using biological know-how to help users adapt food plans to their own lifestyles – allowing them to understand how and why they react in certain ways to the different things they eat.

Cardiff-based Glucose Republic centres food choices on the user and their individual needs.

Glucose Republic has been supported through Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme (AGP). The AGP provides targeted support for ambitious growing firms. The programme is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government.

Here, Glucose Republic co-founder David Haines explains how the company was formed and the journey it’s taken – and where he and business partner Julian Shapley want to take their business.

Tell us about Glucose Republic
We’re very much a partnership – Julian and I had previously been involved in developing the world’s first mobile-connected diabetes management platform. We have the expertise and experience to develop technology and products that provide clients with the systems they need to improve their quality of life.

The product is based on the fact that everybody in the world is unique.

Each person reacts differently to food they eat. Increasingly, how people manage their lives is becoming more and more bespoke. For example, diets can’t be one size fits all, as there are too many variables involved – people are just too different for one diet to suit an entire group.

Our background led us to develop Glucose Republic, software which is grounded in the fact that everyone has their own food fingerprint. We can access that fingerprint by tracking glucose levels and this can be used to provide users with feedback on the metabolic impact of the food they’ve eaten. This gives them the chance make meal choices with greater confidence.

Using our system – which includes the world’s first glucose prediction algorithm - people can measure how their body is reacting to the foods they eat and the things they do. Understanding all of this means people can adapt food plans to their own lifestyles, It also arms them with vital knowledge about their own reactions to food, creating individual responses and sustainable pathways going forward.

Ultimately, this is about giving people more freedom through understanding the food they eat and the exercise they take – which allows them to have healthier, more fulfilling lives as a result. We have real belief in this technology as a way of improving people’s quality of life. We are delighted that we recently secured significant investment, which will help take our business further forward.

What are your proudest moments in business so far?
Our proudest moments are yet to come. The true benefit of what we are building will emerge for customers.

Nevertheless, we have had lots of exciting moments. We recently welcomed new members to our team and we are planning to grow even more.

Not only that, we raised £500,000 in investment from leading equity investors Deepbridge Capital and the Development Bank of Wales, to build the world’s first system focused on the impact of food on individuals.

We always celebrate our wins – small or big, and only then do we move onto the next challenge. This is very much what the culture of Glucose Republic is all about.

What challenges have you faced in business
There’s no hiding from the fact that starting a business is tough. Starting a business and a pandemic hitting makes things even tougher and provides all kinds of unknown variables into the mix too.

Covid meant we had to quickly reassess how we functioned as a business and we brought in a remote-first working policy very early on. Other companies might well have had to do the same, but I think for us as a young, small and growing business that provided a host of different challenges which we had to overcome.

Put simply we had to keep the faith in what we’re doing.

Glucose Republic has a bright future ahead – the solutions we offer to our customers can be truly transformational and life-altering.

If you were starting again, what would you do differently?
We’re constantly learning!

What works for some people might not work for everyone. The best thing you can do is to stay critical and analytical and make the best decisions you possibly can in the moment.

This doesn’t mean you will never fail, but knowing that you’ve done your best matters.

How has support from Business Wales AGP helped your business?
Business Wales AGP has provided dedicated work programmes to support our development.

These programmes have been massively helpful and key to our growth as a business.

We’ve also received equity investment from the Development Bank of Wales and we’ve started work with the Accelerate Health Programme led by the Life Sciences Hub Wales.

There’s plenty of great professional advice and support out there for businesses in Wales and we have benefited so much from this support.

What advice and guidance would you give other businesses starting out?

• Be brave – There can be hundreds of reasons why you don’t do what you want – you might not have everything figured out yet, or you might be afraid to fail to look stupid, you also might think you’re too old or too young. Ultimately, if you never start, you will never know.

• Have empathy – It will improve your relationships with your customers, support the people around you, and increase your sense of purpose and feelings of connectedness.

• Work in teams – you can go faster together. A lot of young people believe they have to do everything on their own, but this mind-set will only hinder you.

• Have integrity – Having strong moral principles will make you a better and more inspiring leader, and this will impact your employees the same way. This is how to build a strong foundation.

• Embrace innovation – Be open-minded. Always.
  
  

To learn more about Glucose Republic, visit here.

Further information on the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme.

Innovative procurement firm offers businesses the chance to save thousands of pounds

"The support I've received from the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme has been fantastic."

There is an ever-present need to keep costs as low as possible in business. However, optimising spending on the procurement of goods can be a challenge for businesses of all sizes.

Caerphilly entrepreneur Phillipe Mele set out to solve this problem for busy business owners, and in the process, his own business was born. My Procurement - a new, collaborative way for businesses to access better deals - uses a membership model to unlock the best deals for companies using the service.

My Procurement has been supported through Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme (AGP). The AGP provides targeted support for ambitious growing firms. The programme is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government.

Here, Phillipe Mele explains his business model, his excitement for the future and how he was able to navigate through the pandemic and build a stronger business proposition as a result.
 

Tell us about My Procurement?
Well, I think our business is a really exciting one, it is something different which offers so much to small and medium-sized businesses out there. Of course, as the leader of this business, I might well be expected to say that, but being as objective as I can, I think it is all true!

We're based in Caerphilly, and here in south Wales, there's a cluster of innovative companies disrupting a range of sectors – whether that's in fintech or, like us, in a more service-based space. We're primarily an online procurement platform, and we save SMEs thousands of pounds by sourcing high-quality suppliers at pre-negotiated, lower-than-average costs.

We're growing steadily, and we plan to recruit more staff members in the next six months. We also plan to increase our offering to connect more suppliers to customers across various areas. We operate under a membership model, with customers paying a fee to access the strategic procurement service.

The business idea came to me when I was a buyer in the manufacturing industry. While I recognised that a consultancy business wasn't scalable, I knew there was a market for an easy-to-access strategic procurement platform.

Starting up was hard. Initially, we struggled to attract members and came to a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation. We needed members to attract suppliers but needed suppliers to make it worthwhile signing up. 

We had to be dynamic and flexible in our approach to overcome this. So we focused on more medium-sized businesses, meaning orders were significant enough to attract better prices from more suppliers, which attracted more users to the platform.

With plans for expansion ahead, I think our prospects look bright. I'm proud that we've been able to pivot, react and be original in our approach to the many challenges we've faced so far!

What are your proudest moments in business so far?
I'm proud of overcoming the challenges posed by the pandemic – more of which later! But I think overcoming those challenges, working as a team, and growing as a business through those choppy waters, was proof that what we're building here is worthwhile. I am confident the company will be an even bigger success in the future. We're here to challenge, grow, and be a success story for Wales.

What challenges have you faced in business?
Covid posed enormous challenges for us as a business, like so many others out there. Many of our customers were from the aerospace industry, which was hampered by restrictions applied early in the pandemic.

Our three largest customers had to withdraw from the platform in this period, so it was a tough time, as you can imagine.

Many of our suppliers also placed staff on furlough, which disrupted the supply chain. To overcome this, we had to be reactive, proactive and innovative. So we refocussed the business and diversified the sectors we supported, changing our targeting to multiple industries, including manufacturing, horticulture, fabrications and utilities.

Since this tactical change, we've gone from strength to strength and increased our suppliers' roster and customer base. The crisis forced us to rethink things, take action and be assertive, and I think we have a more robust business model as a result.

If you were starting again, what would you do differently?
I'd have started up sooner – and worked on the project while doing my day job before launching. I think this would have been achievable and would have set me on this path a lot faster.

I think I'd also have diversified the client base sooner by looking for areas of potential growth. As I mentioned earlier, I had to rethink how to grow the business because of the nature of our USP. Settling into a niche can quite easily happen in the services sector.

How has support from Business Wales AGP helped your business?
We've had quite a few really helpful and supportive work packages through the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme.

It's allowed us to access specialised and bespoke support around specific business areas such as finance and IT support. In addition, we are accessing strategic advice on nurturing our growth as a business which has also been invaluable.

The advice and support we have received have been fantastic. I'd encourage any entrepreneur in Wales to seek out the support available, which can help your business grow and develop.

What advice and guidance would you give other businesses starting out?

● First, start as soon as possible – even if you have to work part-time while developing your concept.

● Identify how the value you can provide to others can be applied on a wider scale – this will enable you to be more resilient and give you access to a broader potential customer base.
 

To learn more about My Procurement, visit here.

Further information on the Business Wales Accelerated Growth Programme.