Member News

The British Pest Management Awards (BPMA) shortlist has been announced and Norfolk based Abate Pest Management Services has been shortlisted as Small Company of the Year. 

Jon Blake, Managing Director of Abate said “We are delighted to hear the news that we have been shortlisted for a UK award. We have certainly come a long way in 20 years and the whole Abate team are very proud of this achievement. The goal now is to grow to reach the levels of Large Company of the Year and following our recent CEPA European certification and franchising plans, I cannot see anything stopping us.”

The awards ceremony will take place at PestEx, London ExCeL taking place on March 20th/21st. PestEx is the UK’s trade exhibition and conference for the pest control industry. It’s the largest get together for the pest management sector in the UK. This year Abate will be exhibiting at PestEx showcasing their franchising business, where Abate is setting up a UK Pest Management network.

Kevin Higgins of the BPCA and Chair of the BPMA judging panel said “Congratulations to all the shortlisted companies and individuals. It really was a mammoth task going through so many applications and narrowing down to this short list. Just getting this far through the process is an achievement, so I hope you’ll all celebrate your achievement. With significantly more nominations, plus the new awards – the independent judging panel had their work cut out for them.”

Norfolk ACF are looking for businesses to sponsor their Skydive Expedition to Seville in 2020.  This expedition will, for the first time ever, take 20 cadets to Seville to learn to skydive! 

Our goal:

Our goal is to provide a world-class introduction to the sport of skydiving for young people through a structured training programme. 

Purpose:

We aim to help each cadet achieve their own personal goals, as well as learning to support each other through team training and team competition.

We work towards an increase in confidence, leadership and teamwork skills in all participants – this is of value to the cadet force as a whole, as well as personally beneficial to young people about to enter the adult workforce. 

Skydiving is both mentally and physically challenging – but success at each level is hugely morale boosting. 

We also aim to have lots of fun!

Some key points:

• Norfolk is the first and only Army Cadet Force to run skydiving courses taking cadets to licence level.
• Norfolk is the first and only Army Cadet Force to enter the Armed Forces Parachute Championships – and in addition to win medals!
• This is the first time we will run a course in Seville, utilising the good climate to our advantage.

What are we seeking?

We have to raise £50,000 in total to pay for the expedition.  This includes all instruction, equipment hire, insurance, accommodation, transport and subsistence.  We welcome any funds, donation or sponsorship your company is willing to give us.

What’s in it for you/your company?

These are the tiers of sponsorship we offer, however all donations are very much appreciated, so if you are interested in a donation rather than sponsorship, please contact us to discuss further options.

Tier 1:  £500 100mm x 100mm logo on our team clothing (hoodies, polos and jumpsuits) and photo of the group showing your logo. (Larger logos on clothing available for negotiable price.)

Tier 2: £1000 Tier 1 benefits, plus your logo at the end of our expedition’s main return video.

Tier 3: £1500 Tier 2 benefits, plus your logo on all expedition videos and updates and, where appropriate, mention of your sponsorship during publicity interviews.

I really hope that this is of interest and you are prepared to consider sponsorship (or a donation) to us.  Please contact Captain John Stopford-Pickering, Officer in Charge, Parachuting – 07818 550130 – for further information.

In Norfolk, we’re blessed. Really blessed. We’ve got a historic city. We’ve got a reasonable claim to Stephen Fry. We’ve even got a decent football team. What is perhaps the crowning blessing of Norfolk, however, is the Broads.

Formed back in the Middle Ages, the iconic waters and wildlife have the captured the imagination of artists for centuries. From poets to painters to photographers, the landscape has served as a potent source of inspiration. As well as its postcard beauty, the Broads also boasts a unique infrastructure which has allowed local businesses to thrive.

The centre of this infrastructure, of course, has a great deal to do with boats.

Established as a popular British boating destination in the 19th century, the Broads host hundreds of yachts and small cruisers each summer. Perfect for idling along in the sunshine, the wide waterways have become the destination of choice amongst many families who enjoy their yearly getaway in England.

With more than 120 miles of navigable water, boaters are able to easily access the bankside attractions of places like Potter Heigham, Somerleyton, and Wroxham during their stay. Naturally, whenever they make a stop, these families head to nearby establishments for a spot of lunch or light refreshment.

Nowadays, it’s the likes of Norfolk Broads Direct who continue this tradition. Offering a wide range of cruisers and cottages for hire, the family owned business makes it easier than ever to discover the beauty of the Broads and surrounding countryside. Their sister company, Broads Tours, also provide guided and educational trips around the Broads.

To put the ‘Broads Effect’ into figures, the Broads Authority estimates that more than 7.6m visitors descend on the Broads each summer, generating an economic impact of around £568m. This number refers to the total spend of tourists on the Broads and is not just the amount spent with tour operators. 

Not only are the Broads popular amongst tourists, but boat buyers too. Indeed, the Norfolk Yacht Agency is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year and recently reported busy sales activity. With a large selection of used boats for sale in Norfolk, as well new boats produced at the nearby Haines boatyard, the business is perfect for those looking to get more seriously into boating.  

As a whole, the boating and yachting industry enjoyed a 3.4% rise back in 2018, and this trend is set to continue, with brokerages in Norfolk sure to benefit from this renewed interest in marine products. 

Ultimately, the unique infrastructure of the Broads brings a great deal to the Norfolk economy and contributes to in various ways to local businesses. Whilst the businesses operating on the waterways are most obviously benefitting from the traffic, there can be no doubt that mainland establishments also enjoy trade from summertime visitors. With an illustrious history behind it, it’s reasonable to assume that this benefit will continue for many years yet.  

If you are looking to change jobs, considering asking for a pay rise or just curious as to how your salary compares to others, then Pure’s free salary comparison tool can help you.

By visiting www.comparemysalary.co.uk you can benchmark your salary against more than 6,000 other professionals in the East of England. It gives you access to free, secure, real-time salary information against like-for-like jobs and all the information you enter is completely anonymous.

Here’s just some of the information Compare My Salary can provide to help you understand your market value, plus some of the latest salary trends for professionals in our region.

Compare by job title and sector

You can search by job title and industry sector to see how your salary compares to your peers or find out about job roles if you want to make a move. The average salary in our region varies across our core specialism sectors. After Executive positions, which you would expect to command the highest pay, the latest trends show that the region’s Technology sector has the highest average salary of £42,000. For the Accountancy sector, the average salary is £32,000, followed by the HR at £31,500 and then Marketing and Digital at £30,000. The average Office Support salary is £24,500.

Compare by county

Because salaries will differ due to location related factors such as the cost of living, looking at national average salaries can be misleading. With Compare My Salary you can benchmark your salary against like-for-like roles in each county across the Eastern region for more realistic results. For those in Executive positions or working in the HR or Technology sector, the current trends show that the highest average salaries are in Essex and Suffolk. While Cambridgeshire has the highest average sector salaries for Accountancy, Marketing and Digital and Office Support.

Compare by upper and lower salary quartiles

If you are looking to understand more about salary progression opportunities or the starting salary you could expect if you were to change position, then Compare My Salary also provides details of the upper and lower salary quartiles within sectors. The latest findings show that Executive positions have the biggest difference, with £57,250 between the lowest quartile and upper quartile salary. This is followed by positions in the Technology sector with a difference of £26,233. The smallest difference is in Office Support with a £13,000 difference between the lowest quartile of £19,000 and upper quartile of £32,500.

Compare against experience

Salaries are often correlated to how many years of experience people have. Compare My Salary also gathers and shares trends on salary against years of experience within the sector to give you a better insight on how your salary may progress. The current trends show that those with 10 to 14 years’ experience within the Accountancy and Marketing and Digital sectors receive the highest salaries. For the Office Support sector those with 15 to 19 years of experience are paid the most and for Executive positions and the Technology and HR sectors, those with 20 years or more experience command the highest salaries.

Compare benefits

Your salary is only one element of your overall renumeration package. The benefits offered by your employer could also save you significant money or impact on your levels of engagement and work life balance, influencing how satisfied you are with your pay. Compare My Salary also tracks the percentage of people who receive benefits in each sector for you to compare against. Through this we are continuing to see an increase in people being given flexible working and additional annual leave as part of their benefit packages. For example, 27% of people in the HR sector receive additional annual leave and 26% in this sector benefit from flexible working hours.

Compare bonuses

Your annual income will also depend on whether you receive any form of bonus. Finding out about bonuses can be even harder than searching for salary information, but Compare My Salary also provides details of the percentage of people in your sector who receive a bonus and what the average amount is. Currently, those in Executive positions are most likely to receive a bonus (51%) with the average bonus being £10,000. After that, 39% of those in the Technology sector receive a bonus, with the average amount being £3,000. To find out more about what your job role is worth and your market value visit www.comparemysalary.co.uk

MENTA and GENIX will be holding a Marketing for Business conference designed to help small and micro businesses improve their online marketing knowledge and skills. The morning event is being held on Wednesday 3rd April at Pensthorpe Natural Park and is open to all business owners and their staff. At the three-hour event, invited speakers, Paul Brittain and Nick Pandolfi will show delegates how to get to grips with the world’s most popular search engine, Google and how to make promotional video and short film content using a smartphone or tablet. Paul who is Google Level 10 Local Guide qualified will provide step by step instructions to create a Google My Business page listing. He will show how imagery and reviews help build Search Engine Optimisation rankings and discuss ways to create posts to reach thousands of daily users. The second part of the event will be led by Nick Pandolfi, who has won several awards for his broadcasts with the BBC and works in film and television. He will explain why video content is increasingly important in marketing a business and how, using a smartphone or tablet creative content can be produced and used to promote services or products to a wider customer and client base. The Marketing for Business Conference is being held from 9.30am until 12.30pm and is supported by North Norfolk District Council. They commissioned GENIX and MENTA in 2016 to organise and host business information events in north Norfolk. The Marketing for Business Conference will be the fifth event of its kind Alex Till CEO of GENIX and MENTA said, “This event is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to learn how to reach new customers using a variety of digital tools.” To book tickets which cost £10 each for the Marketing for Business Conference on Wednesday 3rd April visit www.genix.org.uk or call 0800 096 3013.

GENIX and MENTA, the business support specialists will be holding their networking event at the Scarborough Hill Country Inn, North Walsham on Tuesday 19th February. The host of Coffee Means Business, Leanne Castle, Marketing Manager for GENIX and MENTA said “Our events are known for their informal and friendly vibe. We hold them at various locations across north Norfolk and I’m delighted such a diverse range of business owners and staff come along. They enjoy meeting like-minded business people over coffee and biscuits to make those all-important new connections.” “This is the third consecutive year we’ve held monthly networking events in north Norfolk and in April we will also be holding our fifth business conference. We will be discussing online marketing and how to get the most from Google and ways to promote your phone through video content recorded via smartphone.” In 2016 North Norfolk District Council commissioned GENIX to organise Coffee Means Business in north Norfolk after recognising the need for a regular networking opportunity for businesses which didn’t involve expensive membership fees. Leanne Castle continued, “I would thoroughly recommend attending Coffee Means Business networking events and conferences. They are a great way to meet new people, share business ideas and gain valuable business support in a relaxed environment.” Coffee Means Business is held from 9.30am until 11.30am, it costs £5pp payable on arrival and booking isn’t essential. For more details of all up and coming events visit www.genix.org.uk or call 0800 096 3013.

 ‘The next generation of female leaders need to be empowered to take their rightful position’

Pure was delighted to welcome Fiona Ryder, President of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, as the guest speaker for the Women’s Leadership Programme Sponsors’ Dinner on Wednesday 30th January.

As one of only two women to ever hold the office of President at the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, in her inaugural speech Fiona expressed her desire to promote the modernisation of corporate culture and boardrooms to ensure better economic outcomes. As a real champion of initiatives that effect positive change for our region, the award-winning entrepreneur, mother of three and prominent business leader was an inspiring guest.

Pure also took the opportunity to interview Fiona and share more about her career progression, her new role as president of the Chamber and her ambitions to help businesses recognise where they may be limiting their economic growth by conscious or unconscious bias.

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I started my first company at the age of 26 and I’ve since grown several successful businesses including The Cube Group of Companies, an in-store audio visual and marketing business for high street retailers, which I sold for a seven-figure sum to a plc in 2006. Many local people will be familiar with my role as the founding Managing Director of Mustard TV. Being involved from the start meant developing the local TV station from scratch, including writing the winning bid to secure the licence from Ofcom.

I’m currently the Managing Director of TCD Media, a broadcast and digital production company based in Norfolk. Alongside this, I hold a range of Non-Executive Director positions including the Ipswich Building Society and the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. I’m a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Honorary Treasurer of the Royal Television Society (East).

2. Why did you agree to speak at the Women’s Leadership Programme event in January?

I know it can be hard to deal with prejudice and negative stereotypes of women in the workplace, whether it is conscious or unconscious bias in a culture where women are still largely the ones to take career breaks while raising a family. The next generation of female leaders need to be empowered to take their rightful positions. I hope that by sharing some of my own experiences, I will be able to help embolden and motivate more women to progress up the career ladder.

3. What are the biggest challenges facing female professionals in our region?

We still face a gender imbalance within the senior management teams and boards of our region’s organisations. In fact we are approximately seven years behind the FTSE 350 in terms of gender diversity on boards. There are so many positive business benefits to boards which are gender balanced and I want to encourage meritocracies, where people are selected as business leaders based on their merit, whatever their gender or background.

4. What do you think stops female professionals from aspiring to progress to senior management or board level roles?

Women can unintentionally hold themselves back from progressing up the career ladder because of a tendency to be more modest about their achievements. As a result they are not always as good at putting themselves forward for promotions. They need to have the confidence to go for it and not simply hope that hard work will get them noticed.

5. How do you think training programmes, like the Women’s Leadership Programme, can address these challenges?

The Women’s Leadership Programme helps women to address the factors which might be consciously or unconsciously holding them back. It will give them the tools and confidence to succeed at higher levels. It also makes employers more aware of the issues faced by women and helps them to understand how they can explore their talent pipeline and look to overcome any barriers which may be preventing inclusive progression.

6. How do you think the Women’s Leadership Programme will make a difference to individual participants?

It will really help the delegates to enhance their confidence as well as developing their leadership skills. It will give them the support they need to take the next step in their career, build their courage, networks and help them to understand and counteract any ingrained negative stereotypes.   

7. How do you think the Women’s Leadership Programme will make a difference to participating organisations?

The organisations showing the commitment to supporting their aspiring female talent to progress are also helping to create role models within their organisation and the wider region. The Women’s Leadership Programme is developing a network of like-minded professionals who will help to inspire and support each other. By participating, organisations will also help to evolve cultures and reduce the stereotypes which can hold women back.

8. How is the Norfolk Chamber promoting the development of leaders and talent in our region?

As only the second female President of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, I’m championing the need for cultural innovation in businesses. The key is to aspire for balance in our board rooms and senior management teams. I want to highlight, support and promote the women already in leadership positions and help businesses to understand and recognise where they may be limiting their economic growth by conscious or unconscious bias.

TaxAssist Accountants expands Support Centre staff to meet growing demand           

The 200-strong UK network of accountants will benefit from new resources and additional support following two senior promotions and the recruitment of six new staff.

The TaxAssist Accountants Support Centre in Norwich provides training and technical and business development support to its network of accountants around the UK.

Following its recent expansion into a further suite of offices at Bankside 300 on Broadland Business Park, TaxAssist has taken on a number of new recruits to bolster staff numbers to 53 with more to follow in the coming months.

“We are driving forward a number of new initiatives around the services we provide to our accountants and their clients,” said Karl Sandall, Group Chief Executive of The TaxAssist Group. “Our network is growing fast to meet the many developments in the accountancy world around Making Tax Digital, new technology and software and the growing need for Advisory Services. To meet this demand, we have acted swiftly to recruit the right staff to deliver the expertise needed to ensure TaxAssist Accountants remains a market leader in the field of small business tax and accountancy.”

The new initiatives include the introduction of additional tax and payroll services, offering huge benefits in terms of pricing as well as time efficiencies and marketability. Diane Deller has been recruited as Senior Tax Insourcing Manager, while Coral Bonner-Wright heads up the Payroll Insourcing Team which includes Lynda Storey and Ewa Lagodzinska.

Business Development support has also been bolstered with the addition of Helena Lawrence, Marketing Executive, and Veronika Simonova, Social Media Executive.

There have been two senior promotions, which sees Jo Nockels promoted to Financial Controller & Senior Commercial Manager and Richard Chatten promoted to Senior Business Development Manager.

“I would like to congratulate Jo and Richard for their most well-deserved promotions” continues Karl. “Both have progressed fast through the ranks here because of their passion, expertise and commitment to delivering excellent quality of work and providing exceptional levels of support. They have assisted in the growth of TaxAssist both here in the UK and Internationally and I am immensely proud to have professionals of such a high calibre supporting our network.”

TaxAssist Accountants is the largest national network of independent accountants working specifically for small businesses, servicing over 71,000 clients.

From 1st February, Rebecca Vincent will be Foster Refrigerator and Gamko UK’s new Commercial Director, responsible for the UK Sales and Aftermarket departments.

Rebecca has worked at Foster for 12 years in both the UK regional sales teams and in export sales, where she became Director of Export in 2014.

“I am delighted to be returning to the UK market and heading up the sales, spares & service operations,” Rebecca said. “My time as Export Director has given me a great understanding of the wider Foster and Gamko business and international markets, and I will bring that knowledge with me into my new role.”

“Aligning the sales and aftermarket departments is an exciting new step for Foster and Gamko and will again move forward our brand in the market.”

Reporting to Rebecca will be Ewen Cairns (UK Sales Manager), Benny Esler (Commercial Business Manager), Scott Dackombe (National Accounts Commercial Manager), James Adams (Head of Service & Spares) and Andy Rasberry (Support Manager – Aftermarket Europe).

Guidance has been issued regarding some food labelling leguislation in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

It is important for any food manufacturers to be aware of the issues.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/food-labelling-changes-after-brexit

The Office for Product Safety and Standards issues a regular newsletter.

The latest includes a link to a video which explains a new standard PAS7100 to help businesses create procedures for product recalls, if necessary.

There is also discssion about the new product safety mark ( replacement for the CE mark) , in the event of a no deal for Brexit.

Can you spare 2 hours on Thursday 28th February?

The Hewett Academy are holding a speed networking event for their students and need just 10 employers who are kind enough to give up 2 hours of their time. 

All students will have been briefed and have a booklet with questions to ask each business. The event is designed to get them prepared for speaking to employers in the future and specifically for the Skills and Careers Festival the following week. 

All buisnesses that participate will be thanked on Twitter and in the Hewett Headlines newsletter. 

If you’re interested let us know by emailing Jordan.Domin@norfolkchamber.co.uk or 01603 729707