John Hurst, 35, is the Co-owner and Director at b2b IT Services from Cardiff
To mark three decades of the IWA’s role in making Wales better, we decided to look forward to ‘the next thirty years’ by introducing some of the people who will be shaping ‘the Welsh agenda’ as the future unfolds. We have teamed up with PricewaterhouseCoopers and their #GreatWales campaign, which celebrates the ideas and people who contribute to the Wales of the future.
John Hurst, 35, is the Co-owner and Director at b2b IT Services
from Cardiff
Having made Wales my home in 2001, completed my undergraduate degree in Wales and MBA (with Distinction) at Cardiff University, I now co-own and am Director of b2b IT Services based in Cardiff.
The attraction of b2b IT and the thing that makes it unique is its people – a collection of talented achievers who care passionately about the client. Our ambition is for our people, all of whom have spent their entire working lives under devolution. We see it as our responsibility to support them to achieve all they can in the workplace and outside of it. We want them to have a good work-life balance, be happy and healthy and realise their own ambitions: whether that be to buy their own home or grow their skill base. It is about going beyond fair work practices and ensuring our bunch of IT superheros are all they can be.
We don’t subscribe to a hard-sell, growth-at-all-costs approach. For us it is about building long lasting relationships. For example, while formal, more traditional events seem like the natural way to connect with other businesses, we are organising events aimed at bringing like-minded people together to network, have fun and talk business. I am a keen mountain biker and so the first event is a mountain biking day in Bike Park Wales (quickly becoming an iconic Welsh landmark). I think we will see more and more people blending business with leisure – beyond just playing golf!
Whilst Wales is a vibrant country with a unique and rich heritage, it is about time we took those characteristics and used them as a foundation to build a strong and progressive country with a robust and sustainable economy that attracts, retains and nurtures talent. We need a vision that isn’t dictated by political cycles. We need accountability across the public sector for supporting business and not consistently trying to define it.
Each day, throughout the month of June, we are celebrating the exceptional people on the Next 30 list by publishing a short pen portrait here on Click on Wales, as well as raising their profile on Twitter using #IWAnext30 and #GreatWales to highlight the exciting contributions these people are making to Wales’ future.
