by The 5-9 Team 🌛✨
Phew! What a busy month we’ve had! November has been packed with exciting events, and successes from our alumni – We are so proud! 😍
And so, without further ado! Check out our top five 5-9 Club highlights of the month!
1. Global Entrepreneurship Week 🌍
The Welsh ICE Outreach team were super busy for Global Entrepreneurship Week this year!…
⭐ Kicking off Monday 8th
Our man Dan, delivered a 5-9 Club taster workshop on Entrepreneurial Mindset and Idea Generation, to students at Coleg Gwent in the Ebbw Vale campus.
It went down A TREAT!
We LOVE to inspire young people to discover and identify the entrepreneur that’s within them, and to inspire them towards self-employment as a career option. In the current climate – we believe that this is more important than ever! And so, it’s AMAZING to partner up with a college that shares this view.
We’re super pleased to announce that this workshop will be the first of a series of activities, on the lead up to an exclusive Coleg Gwent 5-9 Club collaboration, just for their students and alumni in October 2022 – Yes that’s right! We’re already booking up loads of exciting collaborations across next year!
⭐ Tuesday 9th:
We brought the dream team back together in Martin Downes (Wales Co-op) and Jane Ryall (UnLtd), to deliver a workshop for the social entrepreneurs among the 5-9 alumni, and for members of the public, on Measuring Social Impact! Which of course is vital to secure funding opportunities as a social entrepreneur.
⭐ Wednesday 10th
This was a jam-packed inspirational day!
In the morning we welcomed the wonderful Bernie Davies to Welsh ICE to deliver a workshop for 5-9 alumni, and members of the public, on “Lead like a Female Founder”. This super inspirational workshop designed for female leaders was then backed up with a networking opportunity, which lead to many important discussions around the barriers female leaders face in Wales; as well as the part we can all play to support women now, and to inspire the next generation of women into leadership positions.
Then in the evening, Welsh ICE Outreach Director, Lesley Williams, delivered two workshops to our most recent 5-9 Club cohort, on the “Business Model Canvas” and “Pitching it Right!”.
The 5-9 Club alumni will all be very familiar with these workshops, which set the scene perfectly for the cohort to pitch their ideas the following week for Pitch Night – which they all NAILED!
And Thursday and Friday? …We took a breath!
2. It’s a wrap! 🎬
Congratulations to our latest 5-9 cohort alumni! AND to the brilliant Dan and Janine for wrapping up their first 5-9 Club cohort so successfully!
They did it! After 8 weeks of exciting business support, our cohort of entrepreneurs and new businesses pitched their ideas in front of a panel of expert judges.
Special high fives to Georgia Thomas for winning peer champion and to Daniel Minty for securing “Pitch of the Night!”
Many CONGRATULATIONS to everyone from our latest cohort, you all presented amazingly, and we cannot wait to see your businesses grow.
Keep in touch, and we’ll see you over at ice.community.
3. Chairman’s Awards! 🏆
Every year, Welsh ICE’s Chairman, Anthony Record, offers a very kind investment of £5000 to a deserving entrepreneur from the Welsh ICE community, with an innovative idea and inspiring pitch.
This year we are so proud to say that of the six finalists, a WOOPING four of them are 5-9 Club alumni!!! Whoooooooo! And they each did a stellar job of pitching with heaps of passion and a strong business model to back their inspiring ideas, stories and experiences.
Any of these super cool entrepreneurs would have been super deserving of the prize money. And so we’d like to say a MASSIVE congratulations to:
🌟 Bethan Trevett – Keep the Change
🌟 Donna & Chris Graves – Micro Acre Wales
🌟 Martina Fabricci – CBEHX
🌟 Daniel Minty – Minty’s Gig Guide
👏👏👏👏
Of course, there could just be one winner… and it went to… Minty’s Gig Guide 🙌🏆🎉
This guy pitched to a panel on completing the 5-9 Club, just one week before this event, and took home “Pitch of the Night!” (See above), AND THEN, he come back to do it all again, and this time, to be awarded with £5000!
We can’t wait to see the impact this project makes on the music scene in Wales! Daniel Minty – We salute you, sir! Watch this space music fans!
Missed it? You can watch it back here.
4. Hello Blaenau Gwent! 👋
So what’s next? We hear you ask! Well – News just in! In January 2022, we say hello to Blaenau Gwent for the 3rd time!
We’ve partnered with Blaenau Gwent Council to deliver another cohort funded by the Welsh Government to deliver an 8 week 5-9 Club programme. We’re taking interest and applications now!
Sarah Jeremiah, at Blaenau Gwent Council, says:
“There is a great “can do” entrepreneurial attitude in Blaenau Gwent which will be fully supported through attendance on this program.”
So, if you, or someone you know, has an idea for a business and is living in, or planning to launch a business in Blaenau Gwent, they are eligible to apply!
– They may have a number of business ideas up their sleeve, and just need a little focus and push in the right direction.
– Or, they may have a set idea and currently planning on how to turn it into a profitable business.
– OR, they might already be trading, but just need a little support and reassurance to understand how they can improve what they’ve started to be prosperous.
If this is you or someone you know, please signpost them here to apply, or register their interest to learn more…
4. Congratulations, Jen! 🎉
And last but not least – Our team would like to send out, 5 -9 Alumni Jen Harding, a MASSIVE congratulations for winning the title of Creative Industries Entrepreneur of the Year for Wales!!!!
When we first met Jen in 2019 on the first 5-9 Club delivered as a part of our Welsh ICE outreach programme. Back then, she introduced herself quietly with “I just doodle” …Now, she’s an award-winning social entrepreneur and illustrator, and we could not be prouder of her and everything she’s achieved since completing the programme (PLUS contending with a pandemic).
Now, here she stands as an epic role model to many more “doodlers” and budding female entrepreneurs!
YES JEN!!!! 💪
We think that’s enough good news for you for now, although there’s so much more news and people we could have highlighted this month!
5-9 Club family – we are in awe of your drive and passion to chase your dreams 🚀✨ Keep going! We believe in you!
Stop by again at the end of next month, to get the low-down on December’s news!
You can expect all the tinsel, baubles, and merry season’s greetings we can throw at it! 🎄