The Welsh Dream – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Join host Kim Mamhende and special guest Louisa Huxtable-Thomas in discussing the future of entrepreneurship in Wales and beyond. As Lead for Enterprise, Partnerships and Innovation for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Swansea University, Louisa is passionate about sparking inspiration and self confidence in aspiring entrepreneurs and young people.

Louisa asserts that the drive behind entrepreneurs is often rooted within a deep determination to make improvements to the wider community, and that a substantial number of students share this commitment. Meanwhile, Louisa emphasises that it is paramount that people lift each other up, in order to motivate one another. 

About our guest:

Dr Louisa Huxtable-Thomas: Professor, and Lead for Enterprise, Partnerships and Innovation at Swansea University

Louisa’s role in encouraging student and staff entrepreneurship is predominant in generating ideas and innovation not only for people within the university, but also for Wales more broadly. She emphasises that entrepreneurship involves a vast range of projects, including services that could be fundamental in tackling some of the acute social challenges existing today. 

She contends that a fundamental part of her work involves building confidence in students, to enable them to realise their potential. Being the first in her generation to attend university, Louisa recognises how crucial it is to have supportive and encouraging people at one’s informative ages, and the role educators have in shaping young minds.

At the beginning of the episode, Louisa discusses the ways in which it is important to inspire student entrepreneurs in Swansea. She argues that there is a lot of room for student entrepreneurs to take their learning outside of the university.  Meanwhile when students are asked to consider what is important to them in their surrounding community, they can be enabled to realise their entrepreneurial spirit. Crucially, she emphasises the importance of building each other up as a crucial means to enabling everyone to reach their full potential. 

Following on, Louisa discusses the ways in which entrepreneurs, leaders and anyone can stay motivated. Here, she argues that it is important for everyone to frequently reflect upon their sense of purpose and direction. Equally as important, she stresses that people should reward themselves for all of the small accomplishments that they make. More broadly, Louisa argues that successful entrepreneurs are driven by values and commitments that extend beyond themselves, such as a concern for the wider community. 

Subsequently, Louisa discusses the ways by which entrepreneurs can become more inclusive. For instance, she argues that it is important that everyone is given an equal voice, and that everyone within a team has opportunities to take lead. Finally, Lousia briefly talks about the ways in which artificial intelligence may have an impact on the future, before finishing with her own Welsh Dream.

Time stamps: 

00:00: Start

1:54: Introduction

14:44: How to stop the brain drain in Wales 

24:54: Purpose being at the heart of entrepreneurship

32:16: How to inspire self-confidence and motivation

45:20: Importance of supporting each other

59:40: How to overcome indecisiveness 

1:05:56: Importance of communication (as a leader)

1:21:14: Inspiring new leaders

1:30:32: How artificial intelligence impacts the future of business

1:42:09: Louisa’s Welsh Dream

Break The Glass Ceiling: Mastering Yourself & Tackling Inequality.

Delve into this inspiring conversation where our host Kim Mamhende features a special guest Prudencia Orridge MBE, discussing a topic that is both timely and timeless: tackling inequality.  From her Tanzanian roots to her MBE honour in the UK , Pru's journey encapsulates both the challenges and triumphs faced by many in the diaspora. Pru shares her impressive journey to success, rising to the top of the ladder at HMRC against all odds, as well as her unique perspective of how racism can be tackled both within workplaces and on a wider societal level. 

When discussing how to stay motivated, Pru states that it is just as important to be surrounded by supportive people and to have access to good role models as it is to have self belief, whereby the former needs to be present in order to inspire and maintain the latter. 

About our guest:

Pru Orridge: MBE for ‘Service to Diversity’, Customs Fraud Lead at HMRC and Mentor  

Pru rapidly climbed upwards at HMRC. Currently holding the position of Customs Fraud lead, Pru had also undertaken several different management positions across many departments. This includes the position of ‘Race Lead’, where Pru shared that she would organise groups where people could discuss their experiences in order to improve equality and diversity at HMRC. Very recently, Pru even received an MBE for service to diversity. Pru also mentors colleagues, helping them to improve their confidence in order for them to pursue their dreams. 

Having had direct experience with challenges of racism within the world of work, Pru has an important insight into the extent to which racism prevails in workplaces as well as in broader society in the UK. Yet despite the challenges that she has faced, Pru’s journey proves that it is still possible to achieve success. 

At the beginning of the episode, Pru shares her personal experiences with racism when she was first seeking work in the UK. Following on, she talks about how she managed to overcome this as well as other challenges that were in her way and rise to the point where she held important positions at HMRC. From here, she asserts the importance of having self-belief, however she also states that being surrounded by support and good role models is equally important. She additionally adds that she always tries to teach self belief in the people who she is mentoring, often ‘using herself as an example’, stating that a common challenge that people face is that they feel that they are unable to do the job because of their race and ethnicity. 

Later on, Pru discusses some of the steps that HMRC have taken to tackle racism and to improve diversity. She claims that in recent years especially, HMRC have come a long way in doing so. In addition, she argues that problems with racism and a lack of diversity tend to prevail in a lot of workplaces, and it is therefore important that employers listen to the concerns of ethnically diverse people as a fundamental means towards tackling racism. Finally, Pru talks about how racism can be challenged on a broader societal level, emphasising that often black people tend to be ‘invisible’. Pru therefore suggests that black people should be represented more in British media and in British education, and that it is important that everyone has an equal platform to voice their opinions. 

Time Stamps: 

0:00: Start

2:18: Introduction

8:14: Pru’s journey to success

22:41: Importance of Self motivation, resilience and strong support networks

37:59: How employers can tackle racism

49:00: How society can become more inclusive 

1:04:44: What is Pru’s Welsh Dream?

The Welsh Dream podcast! Episode #2 This episode we are joined by Karen from Purple Shoots - An organisation that provides small loans to entrepreneurs who are struggling to access finance through traditional avenues. We discuss the wealth in community & why making a side hustle from your passion can be rewarding. Visit Purple Shoots website to find out more: https://purpleshoots.org Hosted by Ryan Lewis & Kim Mamhende #TheWelshDream

Combatting the "brain drain" is the goal of The Welsh Dream podcast!

This episode will introduce you to the concept of The Welsh Dream, and how we aim to empower ambition, promote equity and an entrepreneurial mindset.

Hosted by Ryan Lewis & Kim Mamhende

#TheWelshDream

Welcome to the 411 Podcast, hosted by Ryan Lewis. This is a special edition of the podcast, recorded for ‘Global entrepreneurship week’, in celebration of entrepreneurs worldwide.

We have a special guest this episode, Franck Banza, founder and CEO of the Wales based charity, the CAE (the centre of African entrepreneurship). He has gained remarkable insights into what it is like to be an immigrant, when coming to the UK to study and become a successful entrepreneur.

We are also joined by Kim Mamhende, who oversees all the CAE youth projects, she has gained invaluable experience that has helped shape the CAE into a thriving charity, that supports marginalised communities to succeed.

You’re listening to the ④①① Podcast

Join us one last time to reflect on what an incredible season this has been for us all! This season has been wonderful to film for you guys and we hope that it has helped you develop as a person and encouraged you to reach your higher self in every aspect. We wanted to inspire you with stories from a variation of diverse guests who have conquered tough problems in their life and have come out on the other side. We hope we have given you the motivation to keep going in this life and make life gold!

It has been a pleasure to direct this season for The CAE. 

Sonia :)

The topic of this episode is the refugee crisis and real stories. We are joined by a young man who sought refuge from the Middle East during a time of war and conflict, he speaks on his expieiernces as well as how he pushed through challenges in the UK and became an entrepreneur. Conversations about the struggles of being a first generation child of an immigrant is also shared along with why real stories must be shared on this topic and the misperceptions of the media. 

This episode is designed to educate our listeners on who we are as The CAE, a charitable organisation which the podcast runs under and why we do what we do. In this episode we talk about what it's really like for refugees and the people we work with behind the scenes, the reality of situations and what we do to help. 

Join Sonia, Kofi and Nomthandazo on the discussion of self improvement. 

The purpose of this episode is to explore healthy habits and end toxic traits that we all individually consume. This episode is a follow up from the last which was about ‘healing’. The episode's aim is to guide our listeners to learn more about themselves and encourage them to not go back to what is comfortable but to continue their journey to develop into their new and improved self.

Turn those bad habits into healthier habits :) Follow @Yenwales

Join Sonia, Kofi and special guest Vismaya an aspiring psychologist!

This episode is about Healing your inner child, overcoming childhood trauma and feeling liberated as an adult. 

We touch on the physical effects that trauma and adverse childhood experiences can have on your health, the importance of pushing yourself to heal from your past, examples that can help you identify what triggers you and what to do. Links to free services that can help you with your challenging stages in life such as therapy. As well as professional experience in this field and really breaking down what it means to heal your inner child and make your younger self proud and fulfilled of who they have become. 

This episode is a prominent and essential one that must be listened to in a safe place.