1. Celebrating brilliant people and brave ideas at the Moondance Cancer Awards
Wales’ only dedicated cancer awards returned after two years this week to celebrate the pioneers striving to improve cancer services across the country. Our team helped Moondance Cancer Initiative establish the first awards two years ago, and we’ve been working hard to bring it back with a bang this year. Taking place at Depot in Cardiff on Thursday night and hosted by Good Morning Britain host, Sean Fletcher, we helped across all aspects of the awards, from working as the event team, managing press and creating all the awards graphics. Watch this space for coverage from next week.
2. Countdown to Korea’s Homeless World Cup hits one hundred days
100 days to go. That’s the milestone marked this week in the countdown to the first Homeless World Cup since the Netflix smash hit film The Beautiful Game brought the football tournament with a purpose to the attention of millions worldwide. This September, it’s Asia’s turn to host their first tournament as Seoul, Korea welcomes 500 players with lived experience of homelessness representing 64 teams from 49 countries will take part in the 19th edition of the Homeless World Cup. On Thursday, Big Issue Korea and the Seoul 2024 Local Organising Committee (LOC) announced that former Korea Republic footballer and FIFA 2014 World Cup goalscorer Lee Keun-Ho will take up the role of Chairman of this year’s tournament. Our team helped Homeless World Cup with comms across social and media. Read more in Korea Post and on Homeless World Cup’s dedicated Seoul 2024 page.
3. Welsh firm makes dent in multi billion dollar global market
We’ve been working with the international trade team at Welsh Government for seven years, helping them to promote the power of exporting to Welsh SMEs. And Baglan-based firm Hexigone Inhibitors is the perfect case study to demonstrate the ways exporting can accelerate growth and transform a business from start up to scale up in just a few short years. The firm, who specialise in patented micro-reservoir technology that is added to paints and protective coatings to prevent corrosion, have signed a string of international deals in recent months in India, Mexico, USA and across south and central America. Their international success over the past year or so has led them to upscale production by 3000% and increase headcount by 50%. We shared the news with media this week leading to coverage in Wales Business Insider, Business News Wales and Wales247.
4. Inspiring the next generation of renewable energy careers
It’s no secret that Pembrokeshire has established itself as an industry leader in renewable energy. The sector has massively expanded in Wales as we head towards net zero targets. Working with Pembrokeshire County Council, we spoke to former oil and gas worker, Naomi Bowen, who is encouraging young people in Pembrokeshire and beyond to consider a career in green energy. Gen Z are the most eco-conscious generation yet when it comes to their career prospects, but many are not aware of the variety of job roles available to them in renewable energy, so we shared Naomi’s unique journey, and call-to-action with Welsh business and environmental press, securing coverage with Wales 247, the Pembrokeshire Herald, the Tenby Observer, and Environment Journal.
5. Improving access to cash in Caerphilly
Wales’ biggest building society is boosting access to cash provision in Caerphilly, an area that has been heavily affected by bank closures, with an innovative cash kiosk in partnership with shared-banking innovator OneBanx. The cash kiosk, hosted by Principality, allows customers of any major bank and building society to deposit and withdraw cash without a physical card. It’s the second machine to be installed in Wales, and Principality hopes to be able to introduce more across the country throughout this year. You can read more about the story on South Wales Argus, Herald and Business News Wales.