Member News

A trade’s person or small business won’t do well if their business acumen isn’t up to scratch. Understanding how to gain and keep happy customers, how to keep the cash flowing for work done and keeping the tax man happy are important to ensure a business is to succeed.

Genix, Norfolk’s business support organisation understands the importance of local businesses, the self-employed and start-ups having access to free business advice and subsidised courses. It’s crucial that people gain the knowledge and information which is key to growing a business and is why Genix provide s their services in North Norfolk as well as in Norwic

Alex Till, chief executive of Genix, a not-for -profit organisation said, “Helping people improve their business knowledge can make a huge difference to both their business decisions and their confidence.  I’m pleased we’re holding half day sessions covering both book keeping and understanding accounts in Fakenham and Cromer. We recently held a marketing course which attendees found very useful.”

Genix’s trainers are friendly and experts in their field, and aim to run their courses as informally as possible. By using venues in North Norfolk saves people having to spend time getting into Norwich.

The organisation are also planning a free session for people thinking of being their own boss, to be held in North Walsham during April.

For details and dates regarding Genix’s free advice sessions and business skills courses go to www.genix.org.uk or email info@genix.org.uk

Leanne @genix.org.uk  www.genix.org.uk  07496713103

Norwich based chartered insurance broker, Hugh J Boswell, has recently announced they’ve become a Patron of Genix, the business support agency.

Michael Jobson, of Hugh J Boswell, said, “We attend Genix’s regular networking events, Coffee Means Business, and have been impressed by the number and variety of businesses who attend. The range of masterclasses and seminars held by Genix providing Norfolk’s business community with information and knowledge ensures businesses continue to thrive and prosper in the county. At Hugh J Boswell we want to ensure Genix continues to expand its services for the local business community.”

Alex Till, chief executive of Genix is delighted the insurance brokers has joined as a Patron and commented “Hugh J Boswell are professional, innovative and committed to provide a high standard of customer care and it’s great that Genix are working with the team. “

“At Genix we’re committed to ensuring Norfolk businesses continue to grow, employ and upskill local people and for the eastern region to prosper.”

For more details regarding Genix go to www.genix.org.uk or call 0800 096 3013.

Genix  – www.genix.org.uk      info@genix.org.uk

Hugh J Boswell, Norwich –  Micahel.Jobson@hughjboswell.co.uk   www.hughjboswell.co.uk

HR GO, the national recruitment group with a joint venture in Norwich, is celebrating 60 years in business.

For nearly a third of that time – 17 years – the Lobster Lane office has placed around 600 people a year in permanent and temporary roles.

To celebrate the diamond anniversary, it has joined a nationwide 60 Acts of Kindness campaign by planning two big fund-raising events this summer, probably a Golf Day and a Quiz.

HR GO Norwich is one of few agencies undertaking assessments and Thomas International psychometric tests for all candidates seeking permanent jobs.

Lesley Harrison FIRP, managing director of HR GO Norwich, said: “We are delighted to be part of a family-owned recruitment company that has achieved so much in 60 years. We have enjoyed serving the businesses and people of Norwich and Norfolk for 17 years and look forward to working with them for many more.”

lesley.harrison@hrgo.co.uk, 

01603 763500. www.hrgo.co.uk

Peter Lawrence & Rod Lee from Human Capital Department have been helping buisnesses in the Care Sector to implement Performance Management Processes which have improved motivation and commitment of staff which in turn means a better service for their clients.The attached article first appeared in Caring Times [Feb 17]. For more details contact us;

• Tel. 01553 609968  
• Email. info@humancapitaldept.com
• Web. www.humancapitaldept.com 

Peter Lawrence & Rod Lee from Human Capital Department have been helping buisnesses in the Care Sector to implement Performance Management Processes which have improve motivation and commitment of staff which in turn means a better service for their clients.The attached article first appeared in Caring Times [Feb 17]. For more details contact us;

• Tel. 01553 609968  
• Email. info@humancapitaldept.com
• Web. www.humancapitaldept.com 

Women have made significant contributions to science through the years, however despite the remarkable achievements the proportion of the UK’s female STEM workforce is only 21%, according to Women in Science and Engineering (WISE).

Briar Chemicals are passionate about encouraging more girls into STEM careers and are proud to sponsor and lead exciting initiatives that offer first-hand experiences.

Education is vital to the future of science and our industry. We produce and supply companies all over the world with crop protection products, helping farmers to grow and protect their crops. By contributing to the industry, the future young scientists have the opportunity to work in a career in which they can contribute to society and really make a difference.

Our Education Programme is designed to inspire the next generation to discover the world of science. We actively encourage our staff to share their knowledge and skills to the young people within our community. By improving engagement with schools and colleges, it allows pupils to recognise their potential and the exciting STEM career opportunities available.

We offer industrial placement opportunities for chemistry and chemical engineering students keen to get an early insight into the wide range of careers in STEM. Carmina, our Student Placement from Loughborough University, who is currently studying for her Masters in Engineering said: The chemical industry offers great opportunities for a diverse career, working in different locations across the globe. Before joining Briar Chemicals, I spent five months at a University in Italy within a Chemical Engineering Research department; a fantastic experience, which, along with my time at Briar Chemicals, will help me further my career. “

Our ‘Insight in Industry’ visits offer a unique chance to experience STEM-related work in an industrial setting. Students meet with our highly skilled workforce who have qualifications in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and have the chance to look around working laboratories and production plants.

Introducing young people to influential and inspiring role models is a great way to teach them how science is applied to real life environments. In addition to engaging with our staff, we have also worked with role models such as TV Astronomer Mark Thompson and Zoologist Jess French as part of our annual science-themed poetry competition.

As proud sponsors of the Norwich Science Festival Chemistry Day, we aim to engage with people of all ages. Hands-on experiments and activities help show chemistry is part of their everyday life. By interacting with parents and teachers, we hope that they encourage children from an early age to explore the wonder of science.

On 8th March, as part of our celebrations of International Women’s Day, we will be hosting a ‘Girls in STEM’ event. Female pupils from local high schools will be invited to meet with women working within the industry at our manufacturing site, as pictured above. With many inspirational women in science, we support and develop those with aspirations of pursuing a career in STEM. Dorothy Hodgkin, a British biochemist, was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her pioneering work into the structures of vitamin B12 and penicillin and remains the only British woman to receive a Nobel Prize for science.

For more information about careers at Briar Chemicals, please contact our HR team on hr.recruit@briarchemicals.com

Pure has always been strongly committed to supporting local charities and to date, the professional recruitment specialists have raised over £120k for 24 charities in the region. This year the Norwich office has pledged to support The Big C by participating in the charity’s own key events and by organising its own fundraising, donations and volunteering activities.

Joseph O’Sullivan, Manager of Pure’s Norwich Office, said: “As part of our values as an organisation, we believe in supporting and taking part in the communities that surround us. The Big C is an exceptional charity, based on our doorstep, and one we are incredibly proud to support. Our first key fundraising event will be our annual quiz night in April. We’ve been running our annual charity quiz nights for seven years and they always prove popular. It’s a fun filled battle of the brains in which organisations get to pit their wits against each other in aid of a good cause. They are incredibly successful in raising funds and, with help from local businesses taking part, we are hoping to raise £2,000 during this fun evening.”

The Big C provides drop in support and information centres across Norfolk and Waveney. These are used by thousands of people affected by cancer every year and provide valuable information about diagnosis, treatments, side effects and recovery. The support also includes trained staff who can provide emotional help, support and complementary therapies.

Pure’s Norwich Quiz Night in aid of The Big C takes place on Thursday 13 April from 6pm at Sprowston Manor Hotel. Teams consist of 4 players and costs £40 per team with all proceeds being donated to the charity. To book a team place visit www.prs.uk.com or email April Gotts on april.gotts@prs.uk.com

We were recently approached by Silverstream Finance (https://silverstreamfinance.co.uk/) to help the property investor and develop rank to the top of Google for its brand name. This means that when someone types in ‘Silverstream Finance’ or a similar variation, that they will come up as number 1 on the world’s most popular search engine. The London-based company were not looking for any other keywords to rank for. Offering a personal approach to short term lending, they receive enquiries and new business through networking and word-of-mouth, but at least when people look for them, they should be visible through online mediums.

Our SEO Process

We started by making sure that Google and other search engines could crawl and index the website as effectively as possible. This included creating a dedicated sitemap and submitting this to Google Webmaster Tools and physically tell Google to read the site. The sitemap included a clear site structure of all the key pages so that Google could see the site navigation and index accordingly.

To make each page fully-optimised, we created bespoke meta-titles and descriptions for each page and made sure that there was just one h1 tag per page. We ensured all content on the site was unique and also had some internal links between pages to aid the user experience.

To increase the trust signals for the brand and domain, we set up a Google Business Account for Silverstream so that their brand name, address and contact number shows up on the right hand side of Google when their name is typed in. In addition, we added an account for Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to show that this is a socially active and real company.

Some further SEO additions made included speeding up the site by compressing images and adding caching to the site. This is something that Google has started to wait more heavily in their algorithm as they reward those sites that load the fastest, as it helps the user experience.

After 4 weeks of optimising their website, we have seen the Silverstream Finance website reach the bottom of page 1 of Google. We will continue to add content and acquire brand mentions (links) for the website and this will help us push to number 1 over the next few weeks.

With every lazy sofa Sunday, the BBA team turn to the wonderful 

We’re delighted to announce our first pop up event of 2017! BBA Digital Media is helping set the trend with 2 large digital screens at this years https://www.opennorwich.org.uk/gigs-and-events.aspx

We’re delighted to announce our first pop up event of 2017! BBA Digital Media is helping set the trend with 2 large digital screens at this years https://www.opennorwich.org.uk/gigs-and-events.aspx

Sixth form students from UTC Norfolk have risen to a demanding 5-week challenge, set by property consultancy NPS Group, in which they had to produce a comprehensive project plan for a multi-million pound housing development for a real site in Norwich.

Eighty Year 12 students, working in teams of 5, were set this challenging brief at the beginning of January.  It is part of UTC Norfolk’s innovative programme of employer-led Technical Challenges, which are intended to give students a realistic understanding of the sorts of projects they could one day be working on in their future careers in STEM-related industries.

Each student Design Team consisted of a Project Manager, Architect, Quantity Surveyor, Mechanical Engineer and Structural Engineer.  Based on a real site in Norwich, the group were tasked with planning a housing development consisting of 10 new homes.

Over 5 weeks the students worked in their teams, overseen by staff from NPS Group and UTC Norfolk, as they worked up their plans in readiness for presentations to the fictitious client, a property investment firm.

Through the project, the students learned about the different forms of technical expertise, the practical and budgetary considerations and constraints, and how these need to be coordinated in order to deliver a successful housing development.

The outputs that each student team was required to produce included: a 3D drawing or scale model of the planned development; a budget setting out the construction costs, property valuations and potential yield from the development; strategies for energy efficiency and compliance with building regulations; and the design and building of a scale model of a bridge which forms part of the development.

On the final week of the challenge, the students had to present their plans to representatives from NPS Group, including Managing Director Mike Britch.  The teams were given a combined score based on how well each role and function was carried out. 

This included stress testing of the students’ bridges, with the strongest of the scale models successfully bearing a weight of 10 Kg.  For its design quality and stress-bearing performance, the award for the best bridge went to Maddie Newman.

At the end of an intense 5-weeks of activity, and following an excellent series of presentations (which included the 3D designs of houses, the cost, budget and yield and ideas for heating the properties), the winning group were announced as Shaun Burnett-Kiernan, Denzil Dube, Scott Gilbert, George Haythorpe and Georgia Pegg. The winning team were presented with prizes including architecture kits, NPS goodie bags and a tour of the actual site.

George Haythorpe, 17, from Wymondham, who was Project Manager for the winning team said of the experience:

“It’s taught me how to manage a group a lot better. Instead of just allowing people to do everything themselves, you have to keep checking what they are doing and making sure they are doing the right thing and that they are going along the same path. My management’s got a lot better I think.”

Georgia Pegg, 17, from Happisburgh, said the Technical Challenge had opened her eyes to a potential future career:

“I got to see what it was like to be an architect. Doing this challenge has helped me to decide that I would like to be an architect. It’s been really useful working with NPS, as they can guide you on how to go about it.”    

Georgia has since been offered work experience with NPS in their Architecture team.

Mike Britch, Managing Director, NPS Group, praised all of the UTC Norfolk students for the effort they had put in and for the quality of their presentations, adding:

“The construction industry is very short of professionals, so encouraging youngsters into construction and engineering is vitally important.  This Technical Challenge is a fantastic way of getting young people to consider some of the opportunities that are available in construction and property work.  It’s great to see the enthusiasm of everyone at UTC Norfolk for engineering and hopefully we can encourage some of these students to come and join us in the future.”

Alex Hayes, Principal, UTC Norfolk, commented:

“The opportunity for our students to undertake Technical Challenges like this, which are designed by our employer partners to be as realistic as possible, is a unique learning experience that you can only get at a UTC.  Our students have learned so much from this Technical Challenge and have greatly impressed with their attitude and commitment.  Crucially, it has also deepened their understanding of the many career opportunities available within the property industry and put our students in direct contact with a potential future employer.”