The Google Digital Garage arrived in Wales for the first time this month and gave businesses the chance to learn crucial skills for the digital age.

In partnership with the Wales Co-operative Centre and Caerphilly County Borough Council, Google delivered a free digital masterclass at the Welsh ICE (Innovation Centre for Enterprise) in Caerphilly offering advice and tips to local business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs on making the Internet a growth engine for their business.

One of the local businesses that benefited from the free masterclass, was Caerphilly based eco-estate agency, Green Valley Moves.

Founder Catherine Woods said: “Having Google come to our doorstep here in Caerphilly was an opportunity not to be missed for a small business like mine. The event has given me the confidence and tools to be able to improve my website and Google rankings in order to take my business to the next level.”

The tour is part of Google’s Digital Garage project – a commitment to provide digital skills training to 200,000 small businesses across the UK by the end of 2016. Government research shows that SMEs with a strong web presence grow more than twice as quickly as competitors, create more than twice as many jobs, and are 50 per cent more likely to sell outside of their immediate region.

Derek Walker, chief executive of the Wales Co-operative Centre, Wales’ national body for co-operatives and social businesses, said:

“Having a global giant such as Google make a commitment to help SMEs across the UK improve their digital skillset can only be a good thing as evidenced from this event which was a valuable learning curve for local businesses trying to improve their visibility online. After the success of this event, we hope to deliver more of these digital sessions in partnership with Google across the rest of the country.”