Business networking site, Wales World Wide, has strengthened its team with the appointment of Simon Goldsworthy as its new principal development manager.
Mr Goldsworthy, 50, will be tasked with growing Wales World Wide’s membership as it continues to build an online global network of people with an affinity for Wales to help promote exports and inward investment.
Mr Goldsworthy has 25 years’ experience working for global blue-chip companies, including as a HR director for Hitachi, Grundig and Thomson and a managing partner at Midas People Management. He has also spent the past four years working as a business development consultant, and will continue in his role as managing director of Future Business Management.
He holds an LLB honours Law degree and is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).
He said: “I’m excited to be part of Wales World Wide, which is a concept I’m very passionate about. As someone who has spent 25 years of his working life operating in a global context, I am all too aware that there’s a wider world out there. I hope to utilise the many international connections that I’ve built up during that time to grow the Wales World Wide product and help take Wales to the world.”
Wales World Wide was launched last year in response to the urgent need for growth in the Welsh economy through exports and as the Welsh Government stepped up its drive for international trade through a series of trade missions to key markets.
It uses the digital architecture of social media and online marketing to give Welsh companies a platform to showcase their products, share information and develop contacts internationally. The site has more than 500 members and, since launching, it has had visitors from 114 countries.
Its core services are a free-to-use online Meeting Place with discussion forums and member-to-member messaging aimed at linking people with common business interests and a connection to Wales, as well as an interactive Events Calendar profiling international events taking place that have a connection with Wales.
“The world is a small place because of the modern ways of doing business and because of social media,” continued Mr Goldsworthy. “At the same time, Wales is growing and becoming a global player, which is what gives Wales World Wide such huge potential.
“The world sometimes views Wales as very insular, or that we’re still in coal mines, but we’re using digital media and we have cutting edge and modern businesses here with the potential to export their services and products. I’m looking forward to helping Wales World Wide play its part in taking the correct brand of Wales out to the wider world and, at the same time, hopefully open doors for many Welsh businesses to trade internationally.”