Member News

The EIT Digital Challenge is an annual Europe-wide call for the most innovative start-ups in digital technology ready to scale up. It is provided through EIT Digital- a European digital innovation and entrepreneurial education organisation.

EU-based start-ups can apply with their innovative digital technologies in one of the following five categories:

• Digital Industry
• Digital Cities
• Digital Wellbeing
• Digital Infrastructure
• Digital Finance

The Challenge offers an international growth package worth up to €100,000 to scale up businesses. In total, 25 scale-ups from the five categories will be selected to pitch their product or service in front of an international jury of corporates and investors at the final event in October. The two best companies per category will gain 12 months in the EIT Digital Accelerator worth €50,000 to scale up their business. On top of that, the first prize winner in each category receives a cash prize of €50,000.

Applicants should:

• Be a fast-growing European technology start-up ready to scale.
• Have a product / service leverage digital technology applied to industry, cities, wellbeing, infrastructure or finance.
• Already have market traction, customers and revenue.
• Be growing at a double-digit pace or faster.
• Require support in international customer acquisition and fundraising.

The 2019 programme closes on 14 June 2019.

Further information can be found by following the link:  2019 EIT Digital Challenge Fund

Staff at local accountancy firm Aston Shaw have raised a grand total of £5,796.68 for Norfolk’s cancer charity, Big C.

Dominic Shaw, Director of Aston Shaw was delighted to present Dr Chris Bushby, Chief Executive of Big C with a cheque for £5,796.68 raised through a variety of fundraising events.

Over the course of the year the staff at Aston Shaw have a taken part in a range of fundraising activities, including a Colour 5k, Inflatable 5k, Dress Down Days, Networking Events, a Charity Pub Quiz and a Sponsored Silence by Aston Shaw’s ‘most talkative employee’.

Dominic Shaw, Director, said: “It’s a real pleasure to be able to donate such a sizeable sum of money to Big C, we’ve had a lot of fun raising it and we know that it’s going to a very worthwhile cause.”

Dr Chris Bushby, Chief Executive of Big C, said: “We rely on voluntary donations for the majority of our income, so support from local businesses is really important. We’d like to say a massive thank you to Aston Shaw for choosing us as their charity for the last year. It’s been a brilliant year working with the whole of the Aston Shaw team.”

Aston Shaw’s new charity of the year is East Anglian Air Ambulance, a life-saving charity delivering critical care to seriously ill or injured people in the region. Aston Shaw has stated that they aim to beat last year’s total and are aiming to raise £7,000.

www.astonshaw.co.uk

Sleep tight even when it’s light, with our May Blackout Blinds offer.

Blackout blinds come in a range of fabric designs so you can get a great night’s sleep without compromising on design. Save 20% when you order in May.   Book your home appointment in time for us to measure up and get a quote to you.   Free measuring and fitting service.    BOOK HERE   Please mention this offer when we visit to quote for your blinds.   Offer applies to domestic blinds ordered by 31st May 2019. One offer per household. Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other discount.

The 2019 winners of the MHA Larking Gowen City of Norwich Half Marathon Business Challenge have been presented with their first place cup on location with the East Anglian Air Ambulance. 

East Anglian Air Ambulance is the charity partner for this year’s race.  The presentation took place at the charity’s Norwich base at Norwich International Airport, giving the winners and runners-up the opportunity to take a look inside one of its air ambulances. 

This year’s winners, MHA Larking Gowen, crossed the finish line in a combined team time of 4 hours 31 minutes, just over 8 minutes ahead of last year’s winners, Barratt & Cooke. Worley Parsons’ team crossed the line in third place.

Jo Fox, Director at MHA Larking Gowen, comments:

“What a fantastic location to be able to present the awards to this year’s Business Challenge runners.  We enjoyed a great insight into the day-to-day running of the service and would like to thank East Anglian Air Ambulance for hosting the presentation, they were such a great cause to run for! I would also like to congratulate all the runners who took part this year, and thank the runners, organisers and volunteers for once again making this event so successful.”

On Sunday 7 April, just under 2,000 runners took part in the MHA Larking Gowen City of Norwich Half Marathon.  Thirteen teams entered the Business Challenge, an inter-company ‘best time’ competition held within the main race. If you would like to know more about East Anglian Air Ambulance or make a donation please visit www.eaaa.org.uk

Top 3 places of 13 teams

Company

Collective Time

1

MHA Larking Gowen

04:31:01

2

Barratt & Cooke A team

04:39:26

3

WorleyParsons

04:50:52

Photo; (Left to right) Captain Steve Norris, Director of Operations Matthew Jones, Critical Care Paramedic Rod Wells, Doctor Natalie Lonsdale of the East Anglian Air Ambulance and Jo Fox, Director at MHA Larking Gowen (centre) with the winning team members Adam Pearce, Tim Angell and Chris Yeates. 

Norfolk Clubhouse is part of a worldwide network of enterprises that exist to provide support and opportunities to people living with mental health conditions. Its purpose is to promote positive mental health for people aged 16 or over who live with severe, and often enduring, mental health problems.

It aims to enable people to regain the confidence and skills necessary to lead productive and satisfying lives. In addition, the Clubhouse offers its members a wide range of volunteering opportunities, access to education & employment, crisis support, information and signposting to other local organisations.

If you are interested in becoming a founding member of the social enterprise, please click the Trustee Information Pack link.

Trustee Pack

Name of contact: June Webb, Founder. Tel:07935072726 Email: info@norfolk-clubhouse.org Website: www.norfolk-clubhouse.org

Three of the Maids Head Hotel’s team, Jonathan Brasnett, Andrew Shorthose and Rose Taylor ran the City of Norwich Half Marathon on 8 April and raised £188 in sponsorship for our charity of the year, Break. The sponsorship has been matched by the hotel, making a grand total of £376.

Sarah Bunn, Break’s Fundraising Event Manager, joined us for Vision and Values Awards event on 23 April and presented certificates of appreciation and VIP supporter’s badges to our running team.

Paul Dickson, the hotel’s resident tour guide, was also presented with a VIP supporter’s badge for raising £147 for Break, comprising donations given at the end of his Shardlake’s Norwich tours, during English Tourism Week.

The Maids Head was also pleased to provide the venue for Break’s fundraising Prom Nation Pick a Dress event on April 11.

Break makes life better for vulnerable young people in East Anglia. The charity believes that every child and young person needs a home where they feel safe and loved, so they can grow in confidence and look to the future with hope. Break’s vision is to ensure children, young people and families reach their full potential and shape their own futures in a safe and creative environment.

The beautiful setting of Centre Parcs in Woburn was the venue this year for three days of networking, workshops, best practice, entertainment and relaxation.

In the natural surroundings of Woburn Forest, this year’s conference had an informal look and feel. More time was built in to enable franchisees and their staff and families to enjoy the facilities and rejuvenate in between a day of meeting TaxAssist partners at an exhibition on Friday, before a busy day of attending workshops and audio pods on Saturday, rounded off by a party in the evening.

Designed to inspire and energise franchisees, Saturday’s series of events were designed to cover a range of forward-thinking strategies and ideas to improve practices. Topics covered included winning business through technology, making the most of the software estate, Making Tax Digital, tax planning, cyber security and driving local marketing.

Saturday evening was a chance for attendees to enjoy themselves at an enchanted forest themed party, with entertainment provided by dance troupe ‘LED Dancers’ and internationally renowned ‘Urban Soul Orchestra’.

Group Operations Director Sarah Robertson was thrilled with the event: “While the location and format were new, there was still everything franchisees have come to expect from our flagship event and much more. It was fantastic to catch up with so many franchisees and share an enjoyable and informative weekend together.”

Franchisees and their staff were full of praise for the event.

Luiza Polec, Senior Accountant and Practice Manager at Pudsey and Horsforth TaxAssist Accountants, said: “The set up and entertainment on Saturday evening was spectacular, so far the best most of us have seen! Friday afternoon and Saturday morning were informative, refreshing and we loved the relaxed atmosphere.” Aberdeen based Steven Mearns concurs, adding: “I just wanted to say a huge ‘thank you’ and ‘well done’ to the team for the amazing Conference weekend.

“Being our first Conference, Cameron [Allan] and I weren’t sure what to expect but the event really delivered. The highest compliment I can give is that we have already decided that regardless of the cost and logistics we will bring our whole team to the next one as we can now see the value it will add.”  

We are delighted to announce that James Groves, our current Commercial Director, has been promoted to Managing Director effective from 1st May 2019. I’m sure everyone at Indigo Swan will join me in taking this opportunity to congratulate James and we couldn’t be happier to see you in your new role. 

James said: “To become Managing Director of Indigo Swan is the single greatest achievement of my life so far, other than my wife saying yes to marrying me! I am extremely honoured and proud that Emily has entrusted me with the future success of the company and the continued growth and development of the swan family.”

James’ promotion will also see Emily, Founder and original Managing Director, move to Executive Chair. She said: “Almost 10 years ago I founded Indigo Swan and it has been an exhilarating journey so far.  With a very clear sense of who we are, what matters most to us and a desire to do our best every day I am incredibly proud of the organisation we are today and our bold ambitions for the future. James’s passion for Indigo Swan has fuelled our success and empowered our Swans.” 

Emily added: “The culture we’ve purposefully nurtured at Indigo Swan has made it possible that this transition feels completely natural and exciting. I’m delighted that, whilst I’ll continue to work in partnership with James to guide the strategic direction of Indigo Swan, I will also have the opportunity to devote time to my wider enthusiasm for awesome company cultures.”

To find out more visit our blog.

Join us for our 2019 Employment Taxes workshop, as part of our On Top of Tax series.

The workshop will focus on recent changes to key areas of Employment Taxes together with an analysis of the areas commonly reviewed and challenged by HMRC. This will include; termination payments, proposed new rules in respect of off-payroll workers, and common National Minimum Wage pitfalls.

Additionally, we will focus on key international employment tax and social security matters which employers need to consider.

​Agenda

• Off-payroll workers
• Payments in respect of Termination of Employment
• National Minimum Wage
• International matters
• Other news and key Employment Taxes changes

This is being held on May 16th at our office, 2nd Floor, Yare House, 62-64 Thorpe Road, Norwich, NR1 1RY. From 4pm – 6pm.

To register for this event please click here. 

This event is free to attend

Small and medium businesses are everywhere and are vital to the success of the UK economy. There are many threats agaisnt them including being susceptible to fraud. SME’s may be vulnerable to fraud because they have to focus on other aspects of the business.

The Norfolk Against Scams Partnership (NASP) is a partnership of organisations committed to taking a stand against scams and aims to make Norfolk a scam free county. We are working together to protect and support residents and businesses in Norfolk from scams, doorstep crime and fraud.

We are encouraging as many businesses as possible to sign up to the scheme. They will get the latest information about business scams, be able to share best practice and to find support.

The attached leaflet gives information about how to sign up to the scheme.

Full Mix Marketing’s founder and managing director, Sarah West, is celebrating eleven years as a Chartered Marketer with the CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing).

The CIM say “Chartered Marketer status recognises those marketers achieving the highest level in our profession. It demonstrates commitment to keeping up-to-date and is awarded on a combination of experience and qualifications. In 1998, The Queen’s Privy Council granted us the authority to award Chartered Marketer status – the mark of an up-to-date, experienced and qualified marketing professional.”

Sarah comments “It’s amazing to think its over a decade since I completed my post-graduate marketing diploma and first achieved Chartered Marketer status. So much has happened in the intervening years but the fundamentals of effective marketing remain the same! Starting my own agency has been the perfect way to use everything I’ve gained and help the businesses we work with to benefit from the results.”

Full Mix Marketing is a results-focused marketing agency in Norwich, Norfolk, East Anglia, which delivers all the strategic, digital & creative marketing businesses need to grow.

Contact us at www.fullmixmarketing.co.uk to find out more

FibreCRM has compiled a list of the Top 100 accountancy firms for digital marketing, placing Aston Shaw at number one in East Anglia and in the Top 20 across the UK.

Aston Shaw is the highest ranked accountancy firm in East Anglia for digital marketing. The firm are also within the top 20 on a national level, placed at the enviable position of 17th.

Aston Shaw states that a key part of their brand’s ethos is to be at the forefront of technology and at the cutting edge of innovation, their place on this list helps to solidify this position.

Mark Noakes, Director at Aston Shaw said “digital marketing chimes with our brand values, it’s the perfect medium for us to demonstrate that we are progressive, modern and forward-thinking. It’s great to see that our digital marketing efforts have been recognised in this way”.

In order to assess digital marketing performance, FibreCRM pulled in data from five primary digital marketing platforms:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Video – YouTube & Vimeo

As a firm, Aston Shaw are committed to leading the way for digital innovation. Whether this is through their digital marketing strategy, advocacy of cloud accounting software or proactive approach to Making Tax Digital, they strive to be ahead of the curve.

For more information on how the Top 100 Digital Marketing Performance List was created, please visit: https://www.fibrecrm.com/2019/04/23/top-100-accountants-digital-marketing-performance/