Mentors

Following nearly a decade as a senior training consultant and company director in both public and private sectors. I had a real desire to become self employed and continue helping other people grow and develop in their careers. I made the leap and set up my own business in March 2011. Over the last 8 years it’s been such a joy working with people and seeing their confidence build, their self awareness increase, skill and knowledge levels develop as well as real attitude changes.

Sarah has a retail background having worked for Tesco, B&Q. Sarah has launched a national magazine and has written books. She has won Retail Business of the Year award.

Sarah is a successful businesswoman, having won awards for her retail business. Having started small and grown, Sarah is all too aware of the challenges that face a retail business in the current climates.

I am immensely proud to have been asked by Business Wales to be a mentor and be able to offer my skills and experience to the entrepreneurs of Wales.  I have over 20 years’ experience gained in sales and marketing from the fast moving, creative world of the media, I have worked for some of the biggest media brands in the UK including The Wireless Group, Guardian Media Group and more recently News UK!

I have been working in finance since 2005, starting off with Woolwich in a call centre, progressing to a financial adviser in Lloyds and becoming a self employed financial adviser/financial planner in 2009. 

I set up my first financial planning company in 2012 and the second in 2018.

Core Skills & Experiences:
Building foundational processes for a small business
Coordinating business practices and staff base
Creating valuable customer relationships
Establishing practices for positive Staff & Individual mental health/wellbeing.
1:1 client work – mindset coaching & clinical hypnotherapy

Qualifications:
BSc Business Management
L3 Education & Training
Clinical Hypnotherapy
Stress & Anxiety Management
Mindset Coaching & Mindfulness

I am an ILM level 7 qualified Executive Coach with a true passion for inspiring others to recognise and maximise their happiness, whether that be in their work environment, relationships, or their own self being. When our happiness improves so does our wellbeing and the benefits are far reached.

As a coach my aim is to be a supportive, encouraging and challenging companion so my clients can assume charge of their lives. Whatever our professional or personal aims in life may be, the ultimate goal is happiness.

Simon Drinkwater is a seasoned, values-driven HR leader with over two decades of hands-on, strategic, and operational experience across diverse sectors including technology, healthcare, education, financial services, and professional services. A Chartered Member of the CIPD (MCIPD), Simon combines academic grounding in Business Administration and Human Resource Management with professional accreditations in NLP Coaching, emotional intelligence assessments, and psychometric profiling tools (OPQ32, SHL).

I served 5 years as an Infantry Officer in the British Army before leaving to become an Operations Manager for a Security Risk Consultancy based in London.
After 3 years of managing a specialist team working across the world my wife and I made a lifestyle choice to move to Pembrokeshire to start work in my wife’s family firm. At this point I started an MBA with the Open university which I completed in 2016.
After a number of years developing and expanding the business, we were given the opportunity to buy the company, Elliots Hill Care Ltd., which we did in 2017.

A highly experienced Finance, Accounting and Procurement professional with over 15 years' cross-sector expertise, including leadership roles in local government, NHS, private healthcare and infrastructure. Specializing in financial transformation, strategic planning, systems implementation, and contract management, I have led major change programmes and finance teams through periods of reform and growth.

I have been a Director of the Urdd Llangrannog for 20 years. The camp had a £2.75 million turnover and employed over 100 members of staff.  The camp contributed over £5 million to the local economy. The camp received an “investing in people”  award in 1996 and standards have been kept at this level ever since.