Former England and Lions rugby star turned travel entrepreneur, Gareth Chilcott, kicked off the 2015 events calendar for the prestigious M4 Business Network, and took local business people on a journey through the highs and lows of a distinguished career.

Taking centre stage at the Celtic Manor Resort, Gareth drew on a selection of key moments from his international playing career to rally his elite business audience to recognise the power of teamwork.

Gareth then illustrated how he had applied the tactics and sporting mind-set he developed at club and international level to build an equally successful career off the pitch as a travel entrepreneur, arranging sports tours for fans to locations across the world.

M4 Business Network chairman and managing partner of UHY Hacker Young, Paul Byett, said: “We are grateful to Gareth for joining us to launch our Network’s 2015 calendar. Speaking as an international sportsperson and successful entrepreneur, Gareth struck the perfect balance for our audience, matching entertaining anecdotes from Lions tours with business insights we can all relate to.

“Mr Chilcott is just the first in our exciting line-up of speakers for this year and we invite all members of South Wales’ business community to join us for what promises to be a prosperous year for our Network.”

The next M4 Business Network event takes place on May 6 at the Celtic Manor Resort.

Current sponsors of the club include UHY Hacker Young Chartered Accountants, the South Wales Argus, University of South Wales, Working Word, Barclays Business, Thomas Carroll, The Celtic Manor, Carbon Financial Planning, Newport City Council, McAlister & Co Insolvency Practitioners, South Wales Chamber of Commerce and QualitySolicitors Rubin Lewis O'Brien.

For more pictures from the event turn to page 15.