Wales YFC NatWest Cymru Business of the Year
30/11/2011
Today at the Welsh Winter Fair, the winners of the Wales YFC NatWest Cymru Business of the Year were announced at an award ceremony at the Wales YFC Centre.
The scheme, run by Wales YFC is sponsored by NatWest Cymru awards Wales YFC members who have established successful business and past entrants state that the competition is an excellent way of boosting businesses, through advice received during the entry process and the publicity following the results.
The winner of this prestigious award in 2011 was Steffan Kurtz a member of Fishguard YFC, Pembrokeshire and he was awarded with £800 to further develop his contracting business. The business was established in the Summer of 2005, whilst he was working on a large dairy farm in Letterson. He noticed that during silage making time, the farm was struggling to find small scale agricultural contractors to help with mowing, raking and silage haulage. The farm which he worked on had a their own self propelled forage harvester to pick up the grass but they were short of skilled drivers to carry out the task required. This prompted Steffan to ask around a number of local farms and larger contractors to assess how much work was available if he was to buy a tractor and start contracting himself. In June 2005, he made the decision to by purchase a New Holland tractor and to start his own contracting enterprise. He was supported by the farmer he was working for as the hours were flexible, therefore he could work for him when he was not so busy with the tractor. The past three years he has secured a number of large contacts. Summer work is taken up with silage haulage, with a 14 tonne trailer and mowing with a 20 feet front and back mower conditioner combination on a John Deere 6830. Harvest work takes over late July where one tractor is hauling grain and the other is used to power a round baler for a farmer.
Speaking on behalf of the judges Andy Woodthorpe, Director of Business Banking - Rural Wales, NatWest, said: “The standard of entries in this competition just keeps getting better and better - judging this year was more challenging than any other year, however we analysed all the entrants across many different facets and came to the decision that Steffan Kurtz deserved the first prize.”
Nerys Llewellyn Jones a past member of Dyffryn Cothi YFC in Carmarthenshire earned the second prize of £500 with her business Agri Advisor Solicitor. The business is a newly established legal service for farmers and landowners across the UK and owned by Nerys, a solicitor and ADR accredited mediator. She prides herself in providing a high standard of service and friendly approach. She is an expert in providing legal advice on agricultural issues and knows the practical issues that farmers face on a daily basis as she also farms a sheep farm in partnership with her husband, Alan. The business, located on the farm, contributes towards the ethos and feeling of the company.
Third prize of £350 was awarded to Roland Davies of Llidiartywaun YFC, Montgomery. Roland won with his company ‘Rol on Trees’, a tree surgeon business. He had his inspiration for starting a business as a tree surgeon on a YFC AGM weekend in Torquay eight years ago while talking to another members who worked quite successfully as a part time tree surgeon. Within a week he had found out how to get himself qualified and only a few months after finishing a his course at Harper Adams he had got himself the first of a long list of certificates he needed to pursue this career. He currently works an average of about 3 days a week on the trees and the rest of the family farm with his parents. In the future he hopes to expand the business, producing and selling firewood and woodchip.
Marc Jones, Wales YFC Rural Affairs committee Chairman, also part of the judging panel said, “All of the applicants we interviewed were outstanding. This is a fantastic scheme for young people living in rural Wales to gain advice on their businesses from a panel of experts. Wales YFC gave those who entered the unique chance in presenting their businesses to a panel of experts who are willing to sit down with them and give them individual advice on their business and help with financial and marketing advice. We are very grateful to Rececca Delaney, Welsh Government, Eirwen Williams, Menter a Busnes and Andy Woodthorpe for the advice and support that they gave our members. All applicants also received a £100 towards their businesses thanks to the kind sponsorship from NatWest. I wish all the candidates luck with their businesses and hope they go from strength to strength”
