Meet the reseller on a mission to build employment opportunities in Wales

Centerprise CEO Jeremy Nash opens up about providing skilled jobs for existing and future generations in Wales

Centerprise International's Welsh expansion is not just about business growth, but giving back and improving the job market.

The Basingstoke-based VAR recently opened its second CiCloud location in Newport.

The new facility reflects Centerprise's ongoing commitment to Wales, following the launch of a £6m IT operations centre in Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly last year.

The Caerphilly centre generated more than 70 jobs in the South Wales town, while this latest facility reaffirms the public cloud provider's pledge to continue investing and creating a more prosperous Wales.

Speaking with CRN, Centerprise CEO and Welshman, Jeremy Nash, opens up about why the group is set on its Welsh expansion.

He explains that, over the course of the last financial year, Centerprise grew its resources by 12 per cent to total a headcount of around 225 people.

"That's key for us as a business but what we've been doing as a result of our investment in Wales is we've been driving this approach where we're seeking to create more livelihoods in Wales and we want to offer skilled employment from the opportunities that we have there.

"In most recent times, we've hired half a dozen or so specialists engineers. That's all come out of Wales where they're based and are supporting our wider business effort."

Why Wales?

A majority of the top resellers in the UK are based either in or around London, meaning the UK channel can sometimes feel London-centric with ample opportunity for growth elsewhere.

"Back in 2003, we'd outgrown the production logistics capacity here in Basingstoke and were looking to see where we could build capacity."

Nash explains Centerprise searched along the M4 corridor and within the devolved nations, and even considered outsourcing.

"We decided to go into Wales at a time where there was quite a heavy amount of deindustrialisation happening across Wales from the late 80s/90s, and it hadn't started to get to where it is now, back in the early 2000s.

"We saw an opportunity to invest in Wales at that point in 2003. Then in 2016, pre-Brexit referendum, we got to a point where we were getting to the limit of our capacity in that 5,000 square metre facility in Ystrad Mynach."

This led Centerprise to weigh up whether or not we build a second facility until the outcome of Brexit led to questions about the future of the UK industry.

Several years went by until the folks at Centerprise decided to go ahead with a second centre.

Then came the Covid-19 pandemic.

"During the pandemic, we decided that we're going to build a second location. And we did with a 7,000 square metre facility alongside the existing one.

"As part of doing that, we spoke to the Welsh government about business grant funding to build.

"Rightly so, the Welsh government expect a return on that investment which comes from us doing what we said we'd do, a capital expenditure project, and secondly, to create employment opportunities in the region.

"We did receive some grant funding, but the important aspect for me was our commitment back into Welsh Government and back into the region of Wales to say we are going to continue to invest in building employment opportunities."

A mission close to home

Born and bred in Wrexham, the Centerprise Welsh drive is close to home for Nash.

"There may be an element for me personally, which is driven by the fact that I left North Wales. I grew up in a mining village and I left straight after school. I didn't see any real future for myself in terms of what I was going to do in the local area, and I went and joined the Royal Air Force."

He moved back to his old stomping ground in 2006, and wanted everyone growing up in Wales to have the opportunity to remain there and contribute to the country.

"The economy of Wales, particularly in South Wales, in our industry is doing really well, but there's areas of Wales where really the economy is driven by public sector employment.

"I want us as a company to be part of contributing to a more prosperous Wales, providing skilled jobs for existing and future generations in Wales.

"It's become a motion for us in the company where we really enjoy the services we get from our facilities in Wales, and how passionate the people are that we employ within Wales, we can see the appreciation that comes from our customers in Wales when we continue to invest.

"And we can see that it's a region where industry does need to invest and in the round, in terms of allowing the public sector to overcome some of the challenges that they're facing.

"And if we are going to expand in new facilities and new capability, we will look to Wales in the first instance because that's where we've got our significant footprint."