Wil Williams argues that Wales needs a business support system that is transparent, honest, radical, decisive and bold; everything that it has not been since 2006.
The WDA was abolished in 2006.
When the Welsh Development Agency was scrapped in 2006, it was presented as modernisation. The language was sound; alignment, accountability and efficiency. However, in reality, the removal of the WDA was driven by ideology and dogma, with outcome far less impressive than the original rhetoric.
The organisation that understood how to build firms and sectors was dismantled and folded into a structure designed to manage risk rather than create value; namely the Welsh Government.
Nearly twenty years on, the results are hard to ignore. Wales has constructed a business support landscape that is active, visible and permanently engaged in something. What it has not done is consistently help firms to grow. The system looks busy because it is busy. That is not the same as being effective.
The failure of the business support system is not abstract. The absence of medium -sized firms is not an abstract concern; it sits at the heart of Wales’ productivity problem. Too many businesses remain small, under capitalised and structurally fragile. The system that was supposed to support the Mittelstand has, at best, provided guidance. At worst, it has absorbed significant public funding while producing very little in the way of sustained economic transformation.
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The contrast with what came before is instructive. The WDA was far from perfect, but it understood something fundamental; economic development is an operational discipline. It is a cultural mindset. It requires judgement, pace and a willingness to act. It had a clear line of sight from policy to delivery, a strong regional presence and the authority to make decisions. It behaved like an organisation expected to produce outcomes, not reports.
When those functions were absorbed into government, the character of the system changed. Decision making slowed. Authority dispersed. Activity increased, but coherence declined.
Over time, the culture shifted from commercial delivery to programme management. This is not a criticism of individuals; it is simply what happens when an operational function is placed inside a system designed around compliance, procurement and control; in other words, government.
The modern landscape reflects that shift. There is no shortage of provision. Business Wales offers advice. The Development Bank of Wales provides finance. City Deals and local authorities run their own initiatives. UK wide schemes sit alongside them. Innovation bodies, export support and sector programmes all play their part. On paper, it is comprehensive. In practice, it is fragmented.
Firms do not experience this as a system. They experience it as a maze. Multiple entry points. Repeated diagnostics. Different priorities depending on who they happen to speak to. Occasional support, rarely continuity. Plenty of conversation, not enough follow through.
This is why satisfaction scores, often self-reported, can look respectable while outcomes remain stubbornly weak. Advice is relatively easy to provide and generally well-received. Scaling a business is not. It requires capital, capability, leadership and sustained joined-up engagement over time. That is where the current model struggles.
The deeper issue is cultural rather than structural. The post 2006 environment rewards careful administration. Success is often measured by activity; programmes delivered, funds allocated, targets met. What matters to the economy is different; firms that grow, export, invest and employ. The two are not the same, and the gap between them has widened.
The consequences are visible across the economy. Wales continues to produce fewer medium sized firms than comparable regions. Productivity remains low. That is a function of the paucity of Wales’ Mittelstand. Regional disparities persist, particularly between Cardiff and the rest of the country. There is a growing tendency to accept this as normal, even to dress it up as progress – see the last review Welsh Government Business Support Review, November 2025 – a few tweaks to the system will fix any issues.
The upcoming Senedd Election presents an opportunity, although not a guaranteed one. A new administration will arrive with the usual choice; adjust around the edges or address the problem properly, radically and innovatively. The system will naturally advocate for incremental change. It always does. Incremental change is comfortable. It is also how a failing model is preserved.
A more serious response would start from first principles. Businesses do not need more programmes. They need a coherent system. One front door, not many. A single relationship that follows the firm as it grows. That relationship must be transparent.
Regional teams with enough authority to act, rather than constantly referring decisions back to Cardiff. Finance that aligns with the realities of scaling, not just early-stage support or asset backed lending. Export, innovation and capability development integrated into a single growth pathway rather than treated as separate activities.
None of this is especially novel. That is precisely the point. These are the basics of economic development; understood decades ago and quietly set aside in favour of something more administratively convenient.
Recreating a delivery focused system, call it WDA 2.0 if you like, would not require reinvention. It though would require: discipline; fewer programmes; clearer missions; harder measures of success; and a willingness to stop doing things that do not work. Most of all, it would require a shift in mindset; from managing activity to driving outcomes.
That is the uncomfortable part. Structural reform is relatively straightforward. Cultural change is not. It demands political will and a tolerance for decisions that may not please everyone, particularly those invested in the current arrangements.
If the next administration chooses caution, the system will continue as it is; busy, well-intentioned and fundamentally ineffective. If it chooses to act, it will need to do so with clarity and conviction.
At first glance, there appears to be some tension in this argument. On the one hand, there is a clear case for stronger regional and local delivery, including through bodies such as CJCs (corporate joint committees that includes the Cardiff Capital Region). That is essential. But it must sit within a disciplined national framework; one that is relentlessly focused on what actually matters; business creation, survival and growth.
The same applies to consistency. The system does need greater coherence and stability in how support is offered. However, that does not mean rigidity. A practical shift is required; one that allows for structured experimentation (innovation within a 100% commercial framework) in the design and delivery of economic support programmes. This means learning from what has worked elsewhere; testing different approaches in live economic conditions; and reporting outcomes honestly and in real time, including where things fail.
That approach demands a different type of organisation. One with the imagination and confidence to act; open to new ideas; prepared to challenge its own assumptions; and grounded in commercial reality rather than administrative comfort. In that context, experimentation is not a contradiction of consistency; it is the mechanism through which genuinely consistent and effective programmes are built over time.
The name of the organisation matters less than its function, although I believe there remains value in the WDA brand some twenty years on. A single entity should be established as an operational agency; separate from government, but clearly accountable to it. It must hold authority over the principal levers of economic value creation; including Business Wales, the Development Bank of Wales the £547m Local Growth Fund for Wales, strategic land and property assets, and export and inward investment functions.
At the same time, it must remain connected to place; transparent and accountable to the Senedd; working in close alignment with local authorities, through the CJCs, a regional tier of sufficient scale to act strategically while remaining grounded in local economic realities.
Let us hope that a new administration does not default to what the system will inevitably recommend; incremental change, the status quo. The new business support system must be transparent, honest, radical, decisive and bold; everything that it has not been since 2006.
- Wil Williams is co-founder of LearnerMetrics and a former chief executive of the Alacrity Foundation.
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