The fifth floor of a new building with panoramic views across a capital city is not a bad place to start your business.
It is also somewhat unrealistic for most new companies to begin their journey in such luxurious surroundings. But this is the start companies accepted into the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator get at the Cardiff hub.
The Cardiff hub is in the Central Square One building, next to the railway station, and part of a rejuvinated business centre of the city, which will soon be home to the BBC and HMRC.
Since the bank took over the hub in 2018 it has supported more than 250 entrepreneurs, with almost even gender split, and created 234 jobs. Businesses in the core accelerator have raised £2.5m of investment and had a total turnover of just under £6m. The average annualised turnover of entrepreneurs is £196,569.
The bank has a further 11 hubs in Bristol, Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Brighton, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, and Belfast.
A business or entrepreneur accepted on the Accelerator programme will get free office space, wi-fi and printing, one on one coaching, mentors, legal and tech advice, and access to the bank’s network.
The programme lasts six months and is fully funded by the banks, and while it all sounds great there are two questions that immediately jump out: What does the bank get out of it? And what happens to the company once they get chucked out of these brand new, luxurious offices and have to fend for themselves?
At the Cardiff hub Gordon Merrylees, the managing director of entrepreneurship at RBS and NatWest, is quick to answer.
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The programme was started to help the bank regain trust in the business community, but since then it has grown and the markers to define the programme’s success has changed. The obvious reason now is the hope they will get the business to bank with them.
But there are a number of other ways the programme has reaped rewards for the bank.
One way is offering training in a similar vein to the programme to staff to help them become more interreprenurial. Mr Merrylees offers a training programme to staff and it has seen attendees generate numerous ideas that have helped the bank.
Something Mr Merrylees admits they should have but never forsaw was the access to innovation from the businesses on the programme.
“In the first 10 months of this year we have had 79 ideas that my colleagues have scouted, identified, evalued and escaulated to the exectutive steering committee, really high level. Of the 79, more than a dozen have gone from proof of concept, and we have signed commercial contracts with seven. For those seven it is a game changer, to sign a contract with a bank is pretty amazing.”
One of the seven is the Cardiff-based Amplfyfi.
“Amplyfi came into us with with two members of staff and left us with 27. The last time I bumped into Chris (Ganje) in London it was up to 60 and it is probably more than that now. One of our colleagues went to become their chief operationg officer. It has gone full circle now and they have signed a commercial contract to supply us.”
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Amplyfi was also a business that took advantage of the possibility of staying in the programme for 18 months – or three terms.
The Accelerator is aware that once a business completes the programme it can be a difficult jump from leaving the comforts they have grown used to and fending for themselves.
If a business meets a series of metrics and expectations, such as investment and taking on staff, they can stay on. Eventually they will have to leave and this is something the bank is looking at.
The bank has real estate teams who are reaching out to customers to help alumni from the programme find space.
“It is something we could formalise,” Mr Merrylees said. “We have been working on their business plans, helping educate them and become better entreprenurial leaders so they are prepared for that next step on the journey. They know there is an end to their time.
“One of things we are proud of is the environment and community we build – they really stick together. We never set out to do that but it is a lovely byproduct.”
This has led NatWest to launch an alumni programme to help the businesses stay together and work collaboratively. This will be launched before end of the year.
Applications for the next Accelorator programme opens on December 3.