Conference puts spotlight on Welsh micro businesses
'Alternative finance for Welsh micro businesses' is the title for a conference being organised by the Institute of Welsh Affairs in association with the Federation of Small Businesses. Details are - Tuesday 23 October 2012 Novotel, Cardiff 9.00am - 4.15pm Conference Chair: Geraint Talfan Davies, Chairman, IWA Micro-businesses employing fewer than nine people account for the vast majority of businesses in Wales – 193,010 in 2011, or 94.5 per cent. Yet these businesses – the main growth engine of the Welsh economy – are experiencing severe problems in obtaining finance from conventional banks. Even where they are successful they often have to pay over the odds for investment funds. This conference asks whether the model we have for channelling resources to micro businesses is appropriate. Are there alternatives sources of finance and better methods of distribution available to us? Are their lessons to be learnt from other countries, especially Germany and the USA? The confere...