Chief executive of the Welsh Rugby Union, Martyn Phillips, has been appointed the first chairman of GlobalWelsh - an initiative which aims to exploit the business expertise and networks of Welsh executives and entrepreneurs living overseas for the benefit of the Welsh economy.
Through a digital platform, GlobalWelsh is building a community based on the estimated three million Welsh diaspora and connecting them back to their homeland.
Through increasing Wales’ engagement with its diaspora community, GlobalWelsh hopes to facilitate strategic opportunities that benefit Wales in terms of international trade, inward investment including, sport, arts, tourism and philanthropy.
Mr Phillips said: “With rugby being such an important part of Welsh national identity, we at the WRU feel we should support initiatives that complement the WRU’s growth ambitions and that go beyond rugby.
“I want to see Wales strive to do better at promoting itself and I believe that supporting GlobalWelsh is crucial to our goal of enabling a wider engagement with our global audience.”
The WRU has also become a founding partner of GlobalWelsh. Mr Phillips' role is an unpaid one.
Founder of GlobalWelsh, Walter May, said “GlobalWelsh is about creating a community of people from many different locations, all with a passion and identity with Wales.
“Wales has a population of three million within its borders, and an estimated three million Welsh people living abroad, we are therefore a global nation of six million people.] GlobalWelsh is about engaging with that diaspora, wherever they may be in the world.”
