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Earlier this week we staged an online panel discussion exploring how the economy of the Swansea Bay City Region can build back from the pandemic. Business editor Sion Barry chaired the discussion with a panel consisting of Alun Thomas, regional manager for the Development Bank of Wales; Rob Stewart, leader of Swansea council; Professor Medwin Hughes, vice-chancellor of the University of Wales Trinity St David; Alison Vickers, managing partner of professional advisory firm Bevan Buckland; and Rachael Flanagan, founder and managing director of Mrs Bucket

On the outlook for the office market across the region and a hybrid model of working, Cllr Stewart said: “There is an opportunity here for a more flexible way of working, where people rotate in and out of spaces, where they can use those hub [co-working space] schemes more effectively. And I think that’s the only thing that’s really changed for us in terms of the city- centre plan is just making the office space a little more flexible.

“So I think that it offers real opportunities for people to work in our towns and city centres, perhaps rather than travelling to some of the bigger capitals, which they’d have done previously.”

Cllr Stewart said progress has been remarkable given the restrictions put in place during the pandemic.

“If you look now at the situation in Swansea, for instance, that initial catalytic investment from government has gone into the city centre. We’re now seeing phase two coming along, which is going to be five or six times as big as the original investment from the City Deal.

“It’s working as expected, which is it’s acting as a catalyst to suck in more private-sector investment to create more jobs again. I’m confident we’ll more than beat the 9,500 target for jobs across the region and the uplift in GVA.”

Ms Flanagan – a successful entrepreneur who has a multi-million-pound business in commercial cleaning venture Mrs Bucket, which is headquartered in Swansea – believes that there needs to be more support for new businesses to have the right network around them and mentors who have “been there and done it”.

Ms Flanagan said she travels all over the ������Ƶ and feels Swansea needs a hub that helps bring entrepreneurs together.

“There’s a lot of SMEs popping up and there’s just no environment for them to hang out in and really learn,” she said.

“That’s something that I would have loved.”

Mr Thomas agreed and said that he felt that there needs to be a place where companies can go to access funds and find out how they can grow their businesses.

“I think we’re very good in the area of actually supporting start-ups,” he said, “but if you’ve got a lifestyle business, and you’ve got it to £2m or £3m, it’s great, but what’s your encouragement to go from £3m to £6m, £6 to £12m?

“There are businesses doing it, don’t get me wrong, there are lots of really good businesses doing it, but let’s encourage more to do it, let’s put something in place, an intervention that actually encourages business-owners to do that.”

Prof Hughes identified research as a key area of economic growth for the region.

He added: “At the heart of the economic recovery will be turning and translating research innovation into jobs, into companies, and we shouldn’t be afraid of celebrating that world-class research yet within universities in Wales, but only the region here, and across the country. And I think there’s more we can be doing to work together.

“I think there’s some excellent work happening now across the universities where we are working together to respond to some other grand challenges. If we can develop these guiding coalitions of world-class researchers coming together, negotiating [and] structuring the deals, I think that can make an enormous difference.

“If you link that also to the priorities of government here in Wales, I think universities have got a key role to play in supporting this. But not only in capturing the funding and undertaking the research, but translating that then into real opportunities for the graduates and for the commercial value of research to remain in Wales. That’s what we need to do. That’s how we grow the economy, maximising the research and turning that then into real outputs of the economic regeneration.”

Ms Vickers raised some concerns over the involvement of SMEs in the region’s £1bn-plus City Deal.

She said: “It’s important that SMEs do have a voice because if you grow the number of SMEs, the region’s economy expands.”

She also stressed the importance of people in business having face-to- face time to spark innovation and collaboration.

Ms Vickers said that she was really pleased with how many companies coped during the pandemic.

She felt that it was the companies that upped their game and adapted that managed the situation.

Using her firm, Bevan Buckland, as an example, she said her staff started working in such a way that there was someone working at any time during the week.

“Our staff worked 24/7 in the end,” she said.

Mr Thomas agreed that it was the businesses that pivoted in the early days that were able to reap benefits, although he said that hospitality and tourism were unable to do that.

In the first eight weeks of the pandemic the Development Bank gave out £100m in a Welsh Covid loans scheme, and Mr Thomas said that while some used that immediately to keep the business alive, others put the money aside and started to use it as they emerged from lockdowns.

“We think some are probably still sitting on it right now, and thinking about how to deploy, which is fair enough,” he said,

“I had loads of conversations with company owners because it was a very lonely place, saying ‘What do we do, where do we go, what should we do, and should we apply for it?’ Asking ‘Is it right to apply?’ and our answer was, ‘If you think you need it, then you should apply for it. If you don’t use it, then you can repay it. If it can be used to make sure that you’re a more robust company and you’re going to continue to employ and thrive post-pandemic and during pandemic, then that is what it is there for’.”

One thing all the panel agreed on was that there are a lot of opportunities in Swansea Bay region, which covers the local authority areas of Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Swansea and Neath Port Talbot.