Digital Inclusion and Innovations Manager at Innovate Trust, Ashley Bale, has been named this year’s leadership bursary winner.
The Walter Dickie Leadership Bursary helps leaders in the voluntary sector to develop their leadership skills. Each year the bursary provides a £2,500 grant to someone in a leadership role within a voluntary organisation in Wales.
2025 WINNER
We’re pleased to announce that Ashley Bale of Innovate Trust is this year’s chosen leader. Llongyfarchiadau mawr, Ashley!
Ashley told us: ‘Being an entrepreneurial leader means having the vision to see possibilities where there are barriers, combined with the determination to turn those possibilities into reality for the people who need them most across society.
‘Over my sixteen years at Innovate Trust, I’ve learnt that true entrepreneurial leadership in the third sector isn’t about cost, it’s about creating quality, sustainable impact that transforms lives’.
With this in mind, Ashley plans to use the bursary to fund a study visit to the Netherlands, a country emerging as a leader in accessible smart housing technology and policy implementation. They have pioneered approaches to smart home technology that prioritise independence for disabled people whilst remaining cost-effective and scalable.
PREVIOUS WINNERS
The bursary is managed by our Social Investment Cymru team and since 2017 has funded:
- A study visit to Copenhagen for lessons on sustainable transport
- A community gardening learning exchange in Montreal
- Network building and information sharing in the arts sector
- Several leadership development courses such as the Enterprising Leaders course with Social Enterprise Academy Cymru
- A game-changing trip to Hollywood for inclusive film charity, TAPE Community Music and Film
- A study trip to Canada to learn first-hand about refugee employment services for Welsh Refugee Council
- An educational trip to Singapore, to meet with national agencies and speak with professionals to find out how they’re using technology to work with young people
ABOUT ASHLEY
After sixteen years at Innovate Trust, Ashley is now the Digital Inclusion and Innovations Manager. Starting his journey in 2008 as a Support Worker, Ashley worked directly with adults with disabilities.
After identifying a gap in their organisation for providing digitally accessible learning, he volunteered to develop a Learning Management System (LMS) that today continues to train a workforce of over 900 colleagues.
Building on this foundation, Ashley continued to develop his skills and developed the UK’s first supported living smart home for adults with disabilities using mainstream technology.
Ashley explained: ‘The visit will position Innovate Trust and the wider Welsh voluntary sector as a leader in smart housing innovation. By documenting and sharing the findings through reports, workshops, and academic collaborations, I aim to influence housing policy, funding priorities, and design standards across Wales’.
FURTHER INFORMATION
To find out more about the scheme please visit our Walter Dickie Leadership Bursary page.