Video: Wrexham ICE Launches – “This Is A Time For Opportunity”

Budding entrepreneurs were given a sneak peak yesterday of what to expect when Wrexham’s new £1 million business hub opens later this year.

The new facility, which will be operated by Welsh ICE (Innovation Centre for Enterprise), aims to give start-ups and North Wales-based entrepreneurs a bespoke package of support, offering them ‘the very best chance of making their businesses a success’.

Welsh ICE already runs a successful ‘innovation centre’ for starts ups in Caerphilly for over five years – offering co-working space, meeting rooms and workshops for entrepreneurs and business start ups in South Wales.

In October the team behind the South Wales operation will be bringing their ideas up north – setting up a business hub for local start ups and entrepreneurs right in the heart of Wrexham town centre.

Prior to yesterday’s launch we had a brief chat with Welsh ICE founder Gareth Jones who told us amongst other things: “One of the main things we want to achieve with the centre in Wrexham is to show this is a time for opportunity and there are many ways you can engage and take advantage of that.”

The launch event took place at Undegun on Regent Street, with around 50 people present to find out more about what the Welsh ICE project will entail and how it will benefit Wrexham.

Although details of where the new centre will be remain top secret for the time being as the paperwork gets finalised, last night’s event did see the announcement of a 5-9 Club, which will be the first Welsh ICE initiative to take place in Wrexham.

The club follows a similar model to what is already run in ICE’s Caerphilly site; offering a free 12 week structured ‘after-hours’ course to help aspiring business owners to kick start their careers.

Launching on August 2nd, the course will take place until October and will be hosted at Undegun, however similar events once the initial 12 week cycle is complete will take place at the new Welsh ICE hub in Wrexham.

The actual question on which town centre building will be the location of ICE Wrexham did have a couple of guess-the-brickwork pictures to help whet the appetite of the local rumour mill – you can see how they were introduced in the video below.

More information about Welsh ICE and what they have to offer can be found here. You can also find out further details about the 5-9 Club and how you can get involved, here.

ICE are also looking to hire someone to be the Wrexham Community Manager the full ‘job ad’ can be read here, and with the role being for such a non-traditional setup the job description is equally refreshing – have a read here.

For those wishing to watch the fuller presentation you can see our quick video record of the session below:

Be sure to keep an eye on Wrexham.com for full details of where in the town centre the hub will be based – so watch this space!

Top pic: ICE in Caerphilly!