August 26, 2026 - 200 views
Small and medium-sized businesses across North Wales are being encouraged to look beyond their traditional customer base and explore opportunities to win contracts with some of Wales's biggest public and private sector buyers.
The call comes ahead of the Business Wales Expo: Meet the Buyers, which takes place at Venue Cymru in Llandudno on Thursday, September 17, from 9am to 2.30pm.
The free event is designed to connect Welsh SMEs directly with organisations looking to expand their local supply chains. It is being delivered as part of the Welsh Government-funded Business Wales programme and will focus particularly on the role smaller businesses can play in the Foundational Economy.
Organisers say the 2026 expos, with a second event taking place in Swansea in October, will provide opportunities to meet buyers, discover live procurement opportunities, build relationships and understand what organisations are looking for from potential suppliers.
The Llandudno event is expected to feature up to 80 exhibitors, including local authorities, public sector organisations and businesses operating in areas such as construction, healthcare, transport and energy. Businesses attending can also receive a tailored list of exhibitors based on their own skills and areas of expertise.
The scale of the potential market is considerable. The Expo currently lists 96 exhibitors, 2,663 pipeline opportunities and a combined pipeline value of £40.2 billion across its events. Those figures represent the wider opportunities available through participating buyers rather than contracts guaranteed to North Wales businesses.
For businesses in North Wales, the event comes at a time when significant investment is creating new potential supply chains across the region.
The North Wales economy is undergoing a period of change, with investment in advanced manufacturing, clean energy, digital technology, infrastructure and other sectors creating opportunities for companies able to supply larger organisations. The Development Bank of Wales has described the region as entering a period in which long-planned public and private investment is increasingly moving from strategy towards delivery.
There are also signs of growing demand for commercial space.
Just this week, the Development Bank of Wales announced almost £7 million of support for four commercial property developments in Kinmel Bay, Conwy and Bangor. Together, the projects are expected to deliver almost 67,000 square feet of modern commercial space across 32 units, including new light industrial accommodation at Tir Llwyd Enterprise Park and developments at Conwy Morfa Enterprise Park and Parc Bryn Cegin in Bangor.
The wider investment picture includes the North Wales Growth Deal and the region's Investment Zone, while Anglesey Freeport is also being developed around opportunities in clean energy, trade and technology.
The Welsh and UK governments have allocated £25 million of initial seed capital to seven Anglesey Freeport projects, including improvements to infrastructure and energy facilities, with the aim of attracting investment and creating employment opportunities.
North Wales is also one of the areas benefiting from the new Local Growth Fund. A total of £33.98 million has been allocated to North Wales for 2026-27, with the fund aimed at improving business productivity and competitiveness, developing skills and supporting regional infrastructure. Further allocations are planned for the following two years.
For smaller businesses, however, winning a share of major investment does not necessarily mean competing directly with the largest companies.
The Foundational Economy approach is partly about ensuring that more of the spending generated by major projects stays within local and regional supply chains. The Business Wales Expo is therefore targeting sectors including food, social care, construction, housing, retail and transport decarbonisation, alongside other businesses capable of supplying these industries.
For an SME, securing even a relatively modest contract with a major organisation can provide a route to growth, new jobs and greater stability.
But there are challenges.
Small businesses can struggle with the complexity of public procurement, the time involved in preparing bids, cash-flow requirements and the need to demonstrate appropriate standards, insurance, capacity and experience.
That is why the Expo will also feature a support zone, with seminars and advice from procurement specialists, Business Wales, Sell2Wales and other organisations. The aim is to help businesses understand how procurement works and improve their ability to compete for contracts.
The opportunities are arriving alongside wider economic pressures. Businesses across North Wales continue to face issues including skills shortages, rising costs, access to suitable premises and uncertainty over the wider economy. Gwynedd Council, for example, has identified limited availability of business premises as a challenge and is investing £3 million with the Welsh Government to create ten new flexible industrial units at Eryri Business Park in Minffordd.
That makes events such as the Llandudno Expo potentially important not simply as networking opportunities, but as a way for smaller companies to understand where future demand is coming from.
The message from organisers is essentially that businesses should not wait until a major contract is advertised before making connections.
By meeting buyers early, understanding their requirements and identifying future procurement pipelines, SMEs may be better placed to compete when opportunities formally come to market.
The Business Wales Expo: Meet the Buyers takes place at Venue Cymru, Llandudno, on September 17. Attendance is free, and businesses can register to receive information about exhibitors and opportunities relevant to their sector.
