For the last few months, Professor Dylan Jones- Evans OBE and Francesca James have been putting together a new business that brings together Great British Entrepreneur Awards & Community, UK Fast Growth 50 Index, StartUp Awards and Ideas Fest into a brand new venture that will celebrate and recognise entrepreneurship across the UK.
Still named Ideas Forums it will trade as IDEAS and will be developing a larger portfolio of events and providing support to our growing community of entrepreneurs, whilst also building on the work they have been doing with Starling Bank on the Annual StartUp Survey to produce reports and information on entrepreneurs, start-ups and scale-ups across the UK.
Professor Dylan Jones- Evans OBE said:
“I’ve never worked so hard in my life to get us to this point but thankfully we’ve been blessed to be supported by one of the most amazing entrepreneurs I have ever met. Nick Pritchard, the founder of City Energy Network Ltd, has invested a substantial six figure sum into the business to support our vision of creating a community of exceptional founders and joins our board of directors to drive forward our plans.”
“As if that wasn’t enough, as part of that vision, Nick has also agreed to purchase the iconic Conwy County Borough Council offices at Bodlondeb in Conwy to transform it into a world class business centre, breathing new life into a historic building and transforming it into a dynamic centre for hashtag#entrepreneurship to drive local and regional economic growth.”
“It is the beginning of an amazing journey for the team at Ideas Forums including Zoe Jagoe-Williams, David Williams, Annabelle Dearling, Olivia Lane and Tirion Wilson and as someone who was born and brought up in North Wales, I am delighted to be able to make Bodlondeb a beacon of enterprise in the middle of the region that will be the location for ground-breaking ideas and transformative ventures.”
“I’m really grateful to Nick for providing the additional investment into Bodlondeb and one that will generate hundreds of new jobs and tens of millions of pounds for the local economy over the next five years.”
By transforming Bodlondeb into a world-class centre for entrepreneurship, the aim is to offer free space and support to those who young people who want become entrepreneurs and create exciting new businesses that will make a significant impact on their sectors.
They will also be looking to work closely with other successful entrepreneurs from across Wales to establish a seed fund that will provide these young people with the vital funding and mentoring they need to grow.