For 27 years, Welsh economic policy has been shaped by the same familiar business organisations, but a leading commentator argues that this approach has failed to deliver sufficient growth and that ministers must now engage directly with entrepreneurs and founders.
Room Where It Happens: A Flawed System
Drawing a parallel with the musical Hamilton, Dylan Jones-Evans writes that influence flows to whoever is in the room, but the more critical question is whether the right people are there at all. Since devolution, Wales has seen repeated economic strategies, advisory groups, and consultations, yet the same business membership bodies, employer groups, and professional networks have consistently been invited to offer similar views on persistent problems.
While these organisations have done useful work as a bridge between ministers and the business community, Jones-Evans argues that after more than a quarter-century of devolved economic policy, uncomfortable questions must be asked about the system created and the voices allowed to dominate it.
Representation vs. Leadership
The core issue, according to Jones-Evans, is that representation is not leadership, and being present in government machinery is not the same as changing economic performance. He warns that Wales has assumed that inviting business organisations to panels equates to proper involvement in reshaping the country's future.
Representative organisations are often cautious institutions, needing to reflect wide interests and avoid alienating members, which can lead to a lowest common denominator approach rather than sharp economic change. These groups are respectable, familiar, and consultative, but those qualities may not be sufficient to tackle the economic challenges Wales faces.
Jones-Evans predicts that most bodies that supported the Labour Government for 27 years will now sit down with the new Plaid Cymru Enterprise Minister to say much the same things as before.
Where Are the Disruptive Voices?
He questions what this realpolitik has achieved, asking where organisations are that push harder, speak directly, and challenge comfortable assumptions. After decades of public investment in skills, infrastructure, innovation, and enterprise support, why does Wales still lack enough firms capable of competing seriously in UK and global markets?
The problem is that existing structures underrepresent the founders still outside the system, especially disruptive entrepreneurs who should be at the heart of any serious economic development strategy. Wales needs far more of these people and businesses, but the next phase cannot be built solely around organisations whose primary function is to explain the concerns of a small number of firms to government.
A Simple Test for the New Government
Jones-Evans proposes a test of whether anything has genuinely changed: within his first hundred days, the minister could bring together the founders and CEOs of Wales's 100 most innovative and entrepreneurial companies for a summit built around one question: what would it take to double the number of Welsh businesses scaling past £10 million over the next four years? This should be a working session, not a consultation, involving people building real growth, many of whom have never been invited into the room.
Given the civil service's apparent fear of radical ideas, Jones-Evans expects the comfortable consensus to continue, but he would be delighted to be proved wrong. A truly new start for devolution would involve filling the room with the incredible businesses building the country's future.
