Wales in London Society hosted its first event since its exciting rebranding, with all of London as its backdrop. Taking place on the evening of 6th June, the iconic glass Shard building set the stage for exciting speakers, excellent networking opportunities, and a celebration of women in business.
Celebrating the rebranding and relaunching of the society that brings together the Welsh diaspora in London, and with a focus on Female Founders, some of the speakers at the event included co-founder of Tropic design studios; Catrin Owen, and Chief exec. of Four Communications Agency; Nan Williams.
Catrin Owen was responsible for the rebranding of Wales in London and said:
“It has been an exciting time working with Wales in London on their re-brand and the new website. Being able to showcase this to the Welsh diaspora in London was brilliant, receiving nothing but positive feedback from attendees. It was also great to be speaker at the event, discussing the challenges and successes I’ve faced being a female founder. Comparing experiences with others and learning statistics about female founders was both interesting and shocking.”
Catrin Owen – Tropic Design Studio
With a diaspora of 300,000 Welsh living in London, Wales in London was relaunched officially to a large audience by Peter Evans, Chairman of the society. Peter said :
“I am so pleased that, with the support of the Arfor funding, and a partnership with M-SParc, we have been able to relaunch the network and our new website. I’m particularly pleased that we focused on Female Founders, as out of hundreds who applied for the £50M investment pot from the Foresight group in 2024, only around 5 were female.”
Peter Evans
Catrin and Nan were then joined by Carol Hall of Angels Invest Wales, and Rachel Ashley of Women Angels of Wales for a panel discussion to discuss investment opportunities in Wales. Carol said:
“Women do struggle, as people invest in what they know. So, the more woman investors we have, the more women will be supported to fundraise. They’re often asked different questions to their male counterparts when approaching funders, and it is not justified. We have a good team of women in Wales who want to give back and help others, and this evening sets precedent for engaging more people to help businesses in Wales.”
Carol Hall
A special video presentation by Baroness Carmen Smith of Llanfaes concluded the evening. As the youngest woman to ever receive life peerage, facing sexism head on along the way, she has been an extraordinary example of perseverance and resilience. In her video, the Baroness discussed how she brings attention to issues that effect a younger and more diverse demographic, recently discussing the issue of period poverty in parliament.
Following the event, attendees stayed on to connect, share ideas, and foster collaborations. The event set a positive tone for the future endeavours of the Wales in London society, and the next event focused on socialising and bringing all Welsh groups in London together will be held later this summer. Keep an eye out on our website to keep updated.
The event was made possible with support from M-SParc, Wales’ first dedicated science park with a passion for supporting Welsh businesses, who are supporting the running of the network, and the Foresight Group, a global leading investment management group who have offices in the Shard. Wales in London’s chairman, Peter Evans, summarised the evening by highlighting:
“We have had an evening full of interesting panel and personal discussions, shining a light on talent and the potential that exists in Wales. Our goal of bringing the Welsh diaspora in London together was a success, and we want to continue doing so into the future.”
Peter Evans
You can find out more about Wales in London’s upcoming events by visiting walesinlondon.org, and following their social media, with exciting events already planned from now until the end of the year – get involved!
