CONNECT
The Missing Middle
Frontier Report
CREATE
Creating Businesses, Creating Employers
How Wales can broaden enterprise and enable ambition
Wales should support viable enterprise in its many forms and make it easier for businesses with demand and ambition to take their next step.
The proposition
Enable ambition, do not prescribe it.
A profitable owner-operated business is not a failed scale-up. CREATE examines the different ambitions of smaller businesses and the transitions that matter: starting, surviving, taking on a first employee and growing. It argues for support organised around the business journey, with more intensive help where commercial opportunity justifies it.
What the publication argues
01
Recognise different forms of enterprise success, from supplementary income to substantial employers.
02
Treat the first employee as a distinct decision, supported by financial planning and practical readiness.
03
Measure ordinary business progression as well as start-ups and high-growth firms.
Evidence and examples
The report examines Ireland’s Local Enterprise Offices and evidence on first-hire incentives in Belgium. These cases show why a visible route to support matters, and why encouraging hiring is not necessarily the same as building durable employers.
The full publication sets out the evidence, qualifications, recommendations and source references.
Citing this publication
Husain, S. (2026). CREATE — Creating Businesses, Creating Employers. Frontier Report, September.
Read the series
The Framework Briefing introduces the argument; the Reports examine each part in depth.
Discuss the implications for your organisation
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