It’s a glorious spring afternoon outside the Norwegian Church Arts Centre on Cardiff Bay, which reopened earlier this month.
The now iconic landmark is also a social enterprise, an appropriate location to meet Derek Walker, chief executive of the newly renamed Cwmpas (formerly the Wales Co-operative Centre).
The non-profit development agency for co-operatives, social enterprises and employee-owned businesses has undergone a major rebrand and will now be known as Cwmpas.
“When we started 40 years ago, we were just focused on co-operatives but we’ve broadened what we do and offer,” said Derek, explaining the rationale behind the name change.
“People found our name to be misleading and didn’t understand the breadth of what we did. It was getting in the way of what we wanted to achieve as an organisation,” he added.
After consulting with clients, staff and members, they decided on Cwmpas which Derek said could be easily identified by both Welsh and English speakers as the organisation looks to grow and expand across the border.
The move has been made easier by some members in the organisation’s 100-plus staff who relocated to England but continued to work remotely during the pandemic.
“We have been contacted by other regions in England who tell us they’d like a co-operative centre. We’ve obviously got something that others would like, so there could be opportunities to do more work in England and Scotland,” said Derek.
Cwmpas has also refocused its strategy to include a stronger mission statement of "creating a fairer, greener society” by growing the number of social enterprising businesses which have a triple bottom line.
The rebrand also hopes to emphasise how the organisation has expanded and diversified the work that it does.
This year, its Digital Communities Wales project was extended until 2025 with £6m in funding secured from the Welsh Government to support the digitally excluded areas in Wales.
Refocusing funding
It’s not just the company’s name and ethos, where Cwmpas receives its funding will also change as the Shared Prosperity Fund (SPF) replaces funding from the EU.
Currently, the organisation gets its funding from Welsh Government, the European Regional Development Fund, the National Lottery Community Fund and the Nationwide Foundation.
It has also grown its commercial services with small fee-paying consultancy work with private businesses, public bodies and other organisations.
However, money from the European Regional Development Fund, which funds the Social Business Wales programme, is due to end in June 2023.
They are now in ongoing discussions with the Welsh Government about future funding after ERDF ends.
The UK Government unveiled its Shared Prosperity Fund earlier this month, announcing that communities in Wales will get £585m of funding over the next three years despite criticism that it fails to match EU funds of £375m a year.
When asked about making up this shortfall in funding, Derek said he hopes they can secure funding from the Welsh Government for Social Business Wales and then bid for further funding under the prosperity fund.
As the Shared Prosperity Fund cuts out the elected Government of Wales, going straight to local regions, Derek said this will make it harder to put together a Wales-wide consistent service.
“Previously, you went to one place and you bid for funding and if you were successful then you’re able to deliver it. Now we’re going to have to speak to lots of different players in order to pull something together,” said Derek, adding that he is hopeful that the interventions listed by Westminster in the fund align with what the organisation is trying to achieve.
“The contents of the prospectus does really speak to supporting social enterprises and co-operatives, so it looks like that will be a source of funding to support the sector. But how it’s going to work practically, it’s too early to say,” he said.
The rise of social enterprise
The social enterprise sector in Wales has grown to over 2,300 businesses, employing up to 56,000 people and generating £3.1-3.8 billion in value, according to the latest figures by Cwmpas.
Many of these businesses are social enterprise start-ups that were set up during the pandemic and have since gone to Cwmpas for support.
“These are people looking to change careers or have become more community-minded as a result of seeing what’s important during the pandemic,” said Derek. “It’s a great sign that people are attracted to a fairer business model.”
But the workplace environment has changed as a result of the pandemic and Derek believes this change is for good.
He said: “People want flexible working to be able to manage their work life and family life, but there’s got to be a reason for them to go to the office. Whether to speak to colleagues or perhaps speak to people working in other organisations that they wouldn’t speak to if they were working from home.
“It’s about creating a new type of space that will work for people.”
Derek sees collaborative offices as the future of work, citing Spark, a new collaborative workspace in Cardiff University which opened last month.
“The big benefit is working alongside other organisations with an opportunity to collaborate and partner with them, which you wouldn’t have in a self-contained office.”
“Collaborative spaces can be the future of work, but you’ve got to make it an attractive place for people to want to work in. If staff work perfectly well at home, you’ve got to provide something else that they can’t get from home as an incentive.”
Community banking
Aside from being the chief executive officer for Cwmpas, Derek is also a board member of Banc Cambria, the community retail bank.
It is supported by the Welsh Government and in partnership with Monmouthshire Building Society.
The aim is to launch Banc Cambria in 2023 and open 30 branches across Wales offering a bilingual service, but regulatory approval and £20m in banking reserves are still required before it can launch.
But is a community bank needed in a growing cashless society where most banking services are offered online?
“It is absolutely needed,” said Derek. “Initial market research has shown that there is a demand for this. We hear all the time about small businesses in Wales needing to cash up at the end of the day and not being able to get to a bank because it had closed.”
He added: “It will provide banking services in communities that don’t currently have them. People will be able to bank with a bank which has its headquarters in Wales. The profits from that bank will stay in Wales and stay with a member-based business.
“Its values align with what we want to achieve, that’s why we’ve been backing it and making it happen. I think it’s going to be really important for the economy and support small businesses to have banking services that they need in their local communities.
“This community banking model is being looked at in other parts of the UK. Hopefully, we’ll see them spring up in other regions, but it may be that Banc Cambria in Wales might be the first, we’ll see.”
