GlobalWelsh to host event to drive Diaspora Direct Investment into Wales

GlobalWelsh, a pioneering organisation dedicated to connecting the global Welsh diaspora, today announced it will host ‘Connect to Cymru’ on Thursday 18th September 2025. A first-of-its-kind online event to inform and inspire Welsh entrepreneurs and business leaders around the world to invest and establish operations back home in Wales.

REGISTER NOW >>

Following the impactful findings of GlobalWelsh's 'Brain Drain to Brain Gain' research, conducted in partnership with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, this event aims to harness the significant potential of the Welsh diaspora for economic development and job creation across Wales. The research identified nearly 500 entrepreneurs and business leaders with a keen interest in investing in Wales, either by starting new businesses or expanding existing operations.

The 'Connect to Cymru' event, in partnership with Hugh James, will provide a vital platform for Welsh entrepreneurs and business leaders based outside of Wales to explore the opportunities available for starting or scaling their businesses in Wales. Attendees will gain invaluable insights into:

• The extensive business support, soft landing spaces, skilled workforce, professional services, and public sector growth initiatives designed to accelerate business growth in Wales
• Inspiring success stories from entrepreneurs who have successfully established and grown their businesses in Wales
• Direct access to key Welsh stakeholders, including government representatives, universities, and accelerators, to address pressing questions about returning to Wales with a business

"This event is a significant step towards unlocking that potential, showcasing Wales as a vibrant, supportive, and opportunity-rich location for businesses rooted in our global Welsh community."

This event marks the start of what GlobalWelsh believes could be a huge untapped goldmine of investment opportunity for Wales. Walter May, GlobalWelsh founder & CEO, said: 

"Traditional Foreign Direct Investment often comes with inherent risks and can be transient. Our 'Brain Drain to Brain Gain' research clearly demonstrates the immense and stable potential of Diaspora Direct Investment. This event is a significant step towards unlocking that potential, showcasing Wales as a vibrant, supportive, and opportunity-rich location for businesses rooted in our global Welsh community."

He added, “Looking to the future, we believe that by combining our GlobalWelsh Connect community engagement platform together with growing AI capability we can develop an efficient, data-driven engagement process that can automate matching diaspora businesses with relevant Welsh regions, sectors, and resources. This approach would massively increase Wales’ inward investment successes and create jobs across all regions of Wales.”

The event will highlight Wales's strengths, including its strong skills base, access to investment funding, entrepreneur incubation programmes, legal assistance, and evolving technology infrastructure. The overarching goal is to demonstrate that barriers to returning are minimal, opportunities are vast, and extensive support is readily available. Speakers will include: Welsh Government, Dev Bank, M-Sparc, Gwagle, Ogi, Delineate, Mountain Trike and Hugh James.

As a follow-up to this online event, GlobalWelsh plans to host an in-person event on 2nd December at Hugh James' offices in Central Cardiff, following the Welsh Government’s Economic Summit in Newport on 1st December.

REGISTER FOR THE EVENT >>