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Waterloo Tea founder Kasim Ali talks about…

Waterloo Tea founder Kasim Ali talks about combining ethics with expansion in his tea room and wholesaling business. Plus Cardiff’s changing city centre, Your People human resources guide, growth finance, B Corps, food and drink industry, sustainable computing, four-day working weeks, manufacturing, corporate finance report and more.

One of the highlights of putting this edition together was a cuppa with Kasim Ali. He’s steadily built up his tea room and tea distribution business by aiming high on quality, creating convivial spaces and taking opportunities as they come along.

There’s a lot of soul searching about the future for our urban centres.

The Federation of Small Businesses found 67 per cent of people thought their local town centre or high street was “bad” or “bleak”. That shows the scale of the challenge. Ali’s home city of Cardiff has fared better than many other places in Wales. It has a lively food and drink scene. Cardiff Market is doing a great job of serving its traditional customer base, while adding new food and drink ventures such as Pierogi, which sells a type of dumpling popular in parts of eastern Europe.

But Cardiff, in common with other places, has too many empty shops.

Debenhams closed branches in Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham and Newport in 2021.

It’s a big problem, but crucially – a bigger opportunity. We have a rare chance to remake our urban centres for startup businesses, tea and coffee, local residents, entertainment and retail experiences you can’t get online. That combination is far more likely to attract people to live, work and visit than, say, a clapped-out department store.

Working away behind the hospitality sector is the food and drink industry, with some challenges of its own, notably costs and availability of staff. So it was great to find that catering giant Compass plans to use more Welsh produce in the years ahead.

Wales has its problems, but we are so fortunate to live in peace. Amid the grim news from Ukraine, it’s been heartening to hear about the effort that many Welsh businesses and individuals are making to help those affected by the war there. The world needs people like you.

Douglas Friedli, editor Twitter: @DouglasInsider

Attracting and retaining staff, looking after their mental wellbeing, and a return to the workplace for some are among this year’s big employment issues, writes Douglas Friedli Read more »

Kasim Ali is about to open Waterloo Tea’s latest outlet in Cardiff. He tells Douglas Friedli how he hopes to grow his tea room and wholesale business without losing sight of its principles Read more »

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