Passionate aspiring entrepreneurs are being helped to achieve their dreams through a Valleys initiative giving them support from a team of local experts and an ‘enterprise facilitator’.

Fledgling companies in Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Merthyr Tydfil and Bridgend are being supported by a network of professionals from the private, public and voluntary sectors with skills ranging from accountancy to marketing.

More than 100 jobs have been created and 77 new businesses and social enterprises launched in Blaenau Gwent over the past four years supported by the Effect (Enterprise Facilitation for effective community transformation) project.

Welsh Government provides funding for the Effect project via the Business Wales Team and the Communities First project.

Among the companies that have benefited from Effect Blaenau Gwent support has been Ebbw Vale-based Innovation Makers, which is pioneering an ultra-lightweight and compact baby and toddler stroller that transforms quickly to be carried like a backpack.

Its success has led the business, which is are currently seeking further investors in a second round of crowd funding so that it can launch the stroller on national and international markets, has led to plans to expand to create a further eight to 10 jobs in Blaenau Gwent.

“There are lots of people out there with great ideas who don't know how to progress them, need help in finance or have difficulties with effective marketing,” said Effect Blaenau Gwent Enterprise Facilitator Moe Forouzan.

"We introduce them to our panel, made up of local volunteers with a range of expertise, and we see what we can do to help them. Our aim is to build a robust economy where enterprise can flourish and where local businesses can develop and grow, helping to create jobs and transform lives.”

Enterprise Facilitation was the brainchild of Italian Dr Ernesto Sirolli, who in 1985 devised a way for local communities to support would-be entrepreneurs and existing small and medium sized business. Since then, Dr Sirolli has helped more than 250 communities worldwide adopt Enterprise Facilitation, with Effect Blaenau Gwent the first project to do so in Wales.

The scheme involves an 80-strong panel of local volunteers who meet regularly to hear about the challenges facing entrepreneurs and business enterprises, to listen to their requests for support and to come up with proposals to help them.