ASPIRING businessmen and women have the chance to hear from an award-winning Welsh entrepreneur this week during the latest in a series of events celebrating homegrown business heroes.

Episode three in the Welsh Business Heroes series, hosted by NatWest, Landsker Business Solutions and Newsquest, features Ellen Wakelam, co-founder and director of In the Welsh Wind Distillery.

Taking place online, Ms Wakelam will chat with Landsker managing director Jeremy Bowen Rees about the enterprise she set-up with partner Alex Jungmayr.

Alongside the gins the team produces, the distillery has won a number of awards.

Ms Wakelam was the winner of the NatWest Everywoman Demeter Award 2021, given to the most inspirational woman in the UK running a business trading between three and five years.

Growing up in west Wales, she graduated from university and worked as a geography teacher in the Midlands before returning to Cardigan after becoming disillusioned with the politics of teaching.

Following their return to Wales, she and her partner embarked on a walk around Wales, and it was during this three-month adventure that they coined the name In the Welsh Wind.

Setting up business together, in September 2017 the couple took their camper van and toddler son up to the north of Scotland.

They were inspired by the small craft distilleries they discovered to create In the Welsh Wind Distillery, opening the distillery doors in January 2018.

Designed to inspire, educate and encourage people to create, build and grow their own successful business right here in Wales, the Welsh Business Heroes series will run throughout 2022 with monthly hour-long events showcasing some of the country’s most successful SME (small and medium-sized) entrepreneurs.

This month’s event takes place on Thursday at noon.

The informal conversation will cover her background and how she started the business, and the key drivers and challenges faced along the way.

Julia Perry, NatWest local enterprise manager Wales, said: “Like so many other Welsh women entrepreneurs, Ellen is a real inspiration.

“Her journey to success led to her last year winning the NatWest Everywoman Demeter Award, given to the most inspirational woman in the UK running a business trading between three and five years.

“She’s lived the highs and lows of running a business giving her invaluable experience that those looking to start a business can learn from.”

Anyone interested in growing or developing their own business is invited to attend Thursday’s event by registering for free at eventbrite.co.uk/e/welsh-business-heroes-tickets.