Member News

Setting up a business might not be the first activity people would associate with being an undergraduate, but it’s a growing phenomenon amongst students. In fact, 113 UEA graduates became self-employed and 19 started up their own businesses in 2014/15. With an increasing demand from students and graduates, UEA are seeking help from like-minded entrepreneurs.

“We’ve a strong culture of enterprise here at UEA. We are looking for mentors to help us support the journey of our student and graduate entrepreneurs,” said Finbarr Carter, Enterprise Development Officer. “We provide a variety of services such as coaching, access to funding and connecting them with networks. However a one-to-one relationship with a mentor can make a huge difference to their chances of future success, opening their eyes to the challenges and rewards of running their own business.” Research shows that small businesses that receive mentoring are 70% more likely to succeed.

UEA has a growing Mentoring Programme and we are looking to increase our diverse range of mentors to reflect the backgrounds of their students, particularly in the fields of product development, technology, retail, catering and art. Finbarr explains “They can be from large or small organisations and don’t need previous mentoring experience. They just have to be passionate about what they do and keen to share their enthusiasm and expertise with the next generation of business owners.”

Elaine Reilly, owner of the Mustard Coffee Bar in Bridewell Alley, Norwich, and Mustard at UEA’s Enterprise Centre, has been a mentor for two years. “I find it extremely rewarding,” she said. “Mentoring is a two-way experience because every person you encounter brings knowledge and ideas. It’s a great way of making you review your own business practices.”

We currently have 90 mentors across the whole mentoring programme working with students and graduates and we’d love to have you join us. The mentoring can be one-off or ongoing over six months and can be in person, over the phone, by email or over services like Skype. Mentors get to choose how much time they commit and what kinds of topics they discuss with mentees.

If you’d like to become a mentor or for further information, please contact UEA on 01603 597637 or visit https://www.uea.ac.uk/business/talent/share-your-knowledge

Avanor Healthcare Ltd, manufacturers of the Perspi-Guard® range of antiperspirants and deodorants, are pleased to confirm that AVEPHARMA s.r.o are appointed exclusive distribution partner for Slovakia.

Scott Duffy, Managing Director of Avanor Healthcare Ltd, said: “We are confident that the AVEPHARMA team have the expertise, professionalism and dedication to consumers needed to successfully integrate our brand into the Slovakian market and uphold our brand’s ethos of providing excellence in terms of efficacy and value.”

He continues:”Their commitment to our brand has been shown in excellent product sales achieved since launching in 2015. We look forward to continuing to work with AVEPHARMA and build on the success of the past 18 months.”

AVEPHARMA s.r.o are leading Slovakian distributors of pharmaceuticals, FMCG, OTC, Veterinary and Medical products.

www.Perspi-Guard.sk

TaxAssist Accountants has strengthened its recruitment team by promoting Daren Tillson, previously TaxAssist’s Software Training Manager, to head up its UK franchisee recruitment.

Since Daren joined TaxAssist Accountants in 2014, he has proven himself to be a highly capable member of the team. He has experience of delivering training, project management, pre-sales, support management and overall operations management. In the two years he has been working for TaxAssist, he has gained an in-depth knowledge of the network and the inner workings of the franchise industry.

Daren said: “I’m really excited to be heading up the recruitment team. I’m keen to meet and work with prospective franchisees, who are interested in exploring the TaxAssist business opportunity and helping them to make the move to join our growing network.”

Sarah Robertson, TaxAssist Accountants Group Operations Director, added: “In the two years I’ve known Daren, I’ve been very impressed with his knowledge and ability. His warm, personable manner makes him an ideal candidate to take on this role in our busy recruitment department.

“We receive high levels of interest in both new and resale franchise opportunities as our network continues to grow, and I am looking forward to working with Daren to ensure that our fantastic business opportunity is seen by as many people as possible.”

November 2016

Monthind Clean LLP took part in the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce’s 18th B2B exhibition on 13th October 2016, and we are delighted to announce Chloe Griffin, Broadland District Council Tourism Officer, and Barry Lynes, Rider Co-ordinator at Kickstart as the winners of our event competition. Visitors to Monthind’s stand were invited to enter a draw for the two prizes of £100 voucher.

We were represented at the event by Sales and Marketing Business Manager, Tony Payne; Company Partner, Simon Biggs; Business Development Managers, Tara Culshaw and Richard Angelo; and Norfolk’s Business Manager, Kevin Lamb. The team was busy all day, but took the time to peruse the other stands, and were impressed by the quality of the products and businesses exhibiting. Simon Biggs says: “Events like the Norfolk B2B Exhibition allow companies to demonstrate their capabilities to potential clients. In Monthind’s case we spoke to a number of decision makers who had not previously considered outsourcing their cleaning and maintenance, and some who were unhappy with their current providers. By meeting and talking in a relaxed environment, we make those connections that can lead to valued contracts.”

Norwich based video production company, Eye For Business, has completed a major rebrand and nowEye Film islaunching its new website just in time for the release of its latest TV project, Bare Roots, coproduced with Mustard TV as part of BBC East’s Inside Out Programme.MD Charlie Gauvain explained “Having been around for over 40 year’s the company’s reinvented itself many times over. But, after Frank Prendergast, the founding director, died in 2013 it’s taken a while to come to terms with losing someone so important and to identify the direction in which we wanted to go. We are bringing together the two strands of the business, one area working primarily on broadcast projects and the other producing high quality corporate video and training services. The new rebrand and website sees these two come together and we’re excited to have a raft of new projects to celebrate with”.’Bare Roots’ as Eye Film refer to the eight minute film,formedpart of the BBC’s Inside Out programme following achance meeting between Eye Film and an entrepreneur who created, designed and built a vertical, soil less growing system in his own kitchen, sparked an interest in this potential agricultural revolution.Eye Film, based in Norwich, but operating across the UK, produceeverything from feature films to television documentaries, promotional films to training videos and everything in-between. Telling stories for over 40 years, they helptheir clients capture the power of video marketing with engaging, creative and dynamic approaches. See their work for yourself and contact them at www.eyefilm.co.uk.

Freebridge Community Fund supports seven special causes

Freebridge Community Housing have donated almost £6000 to seven community groups across the region as part of their vision for ‘supporting a better West Norfolk’.

Community groups which promote health and wellbeing, the environment, support residents or bring communities together can apply for up to £1000 for projects that have a positive impact within West Norfolk.

Recipients are invited to lunch with the judging panel made up of staff and tenants, they have the chance to share their charities cause and the plans they have for the donation.

Tony Hall, Chief Executive of Freebridge said: “This fund is all about helping people, and it reflects our vision of supporting a better West Norfolk. The local nature of the fund gives us the opportunity to offer support to the grass roots level that needs it most.

“Once again this year we have allocated funds to some much deserving and hard-working charities, who will use the money to improve the lives of many people in our region.”

One such charity is Friends in Bereavement, a free confidential service which offers comfort and support to the bereaved. They received £800 from Freebridge and these vital funds will help the charity to continue their work.

Gillian Porter from Friends in Bereavement said: “We had been to other places to try and get funding and then we were recommended that Freebridge may be able to help. This grant will go towards continuing to employ supervision and for the training of our staff.”

Along with Friends in Bereavement six other charities received funding:

• Docking Playing Fields Association- £452 to refurbish a piece of equipment that is deemed unsafe on the play area.
• Home-Start King’s Lynn & West Norfolk- £1000 to support volunteer travel expenses.
• Methwold P.C. – £800 to purchase a disabled hoist to provide access to WC facilities.
• National Osteoporosis Society King’s Lynn & District Group – £1000to continue to run the support group and associated exercise classes.
• Pandora Project £1000 to expand the service and have more volunteers available to support clients.

West Norfolk Riding for the Disabled Association – £500 to launch a new 6 day-a-week scheduled bus service in June 2016 through villages, businesses and health facilities in 5 different Parishes in North West Norfolk.

Norfolk Community Foundation manages the fund on Freebridge’s behalf. Any community or voluntary group wishing to find out more about the Freebridge Community Fund can visit https://www.norfolkfoundation.com/Freebridge-Community-Housing-Fund or telephone 01603 623958 or email jennybevan@norfolkfoundation.com

Briar Chemicals invited people to immerse themselves in science and get hands-on with Chemistry at the first ever Norwich Science Festival.

The Chemistry Day, sponsored by Briar Chemicals, was organised by the East Anglian section of the Royal Society of Chemistry and attracted over a 1,200 people from across the region.

Norwich’s first major science festival provided a fantastic opportunity for everyone to take part in a variety of experiments includingbuilding atoms, making rainbows, exploring the chemistry in your own kitchen, writing secret messages and making slime spheres.

For older students, there were more complex experiments; investigating how food dyes work and identifying different materials using a research grade spectrometer.

Dr Sean Thurston, education coordinator for the Royal Society of Chemistry (East) said: “Research by the Royal Society of Chemistry has shown that people have, on the whole, a positive view of chemistry – but really don’t understand what a chemist does day to day. Events like this let us fill in those gaps in the public knowledge. The day aims to show people how chemistry is all around them in their everyday life, while showcasing some of the fantastic scientists we have in East Anglia.”

A team of volunteers from Briar Chemicals hosted the ‘making slime spheres’ experiments; an activity that fascinated all ages. Tim Green, site manager at Briar Chemicals said: “For many years we have worked with local schools promoting science learning as fun and it’s fantastic to be able to work together with other local specialists, to provide free access to everyday science, in a fun and informative environment for youngsters. We want to inspire young people with the wonder of science, and hopefully encourage them to become scientists of the future.”

Briar Chemicals gave short career talks throughout the day, engaging with audiences of all ages. Carmina,a student work placement at Briar Chemicals, is currently studying a Chemical Engineering degree at Loughborough University is keen to encouragemore girls to study STEM subjects.

The first ever city wide Norwich Science Festival, which took place from 18-30 October 2016, celebrated the vibrant and ground breaking aspect of the city. Norwich has long held a world-class reputation for leading scientific discovery, including research at the University of East Anglia on ways to improve crop yields to tackle global food shortages.

Festival highlights included pioneering scientist Lord Robert Winston, a leading expert on fertility and IVF, ‘the people’s astronomer’ Mark Thompson of Stargazing Live and Ben Garrod, an evolutionary biologist and award-winning broadcaster, co-presenting ‘Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur’ with Sir David Attenborough.

Freebridge Community Housing have announced the launch of their new ‘Change to Save’ campaign in support of the government’s Big Energy Saving Network.

The campaign hopes to encourage West Norfolk residents to make changes that can save them money on their energy bills this winter, and was unveiled in front of the Norfolk Knitters & Stitchers who also provide cost effective ways of keeping warm!

The campaign arrives on the back of the news that across our region we are currently paying £11million more than we need to for our energy bills.

‘Change to Save’ offers energy advice on issues such as; changing how you pay for your energy, changing the type of energy tariff you are on, changing your energy supplier and applying for discounts and help to pay for your energy.

Weekly advice sessions will be held by Freebridge Energy Advisor, Chlöe Lacy, between 1.30pm and 3.30pm at the Hillington Square Community Café. Chlöe will also be knocking on doors around Hillington Square to offer free impartial advice to residents.

Chlöe Lacy, Freebridge Energy Advisor, said: “With the dark nights and cold months closing in ‘Change to Save’ can help people to save money and keep warm over the winter.

“Approximately 60% of households in the UK have never switched energy supplier and are almost certainly paying too much for their energy. Our aim is to try and reverse that trend in our area.”

The Norfolk Knitters visit Providence Street Community Centre once a month and kindly allowed Freebridge to speak to them about ‘Change to Save.’

The Knitters are active with a number of charities across our region and have provided support to a range of organisations including the International Aid Trust, Norfolk and Norwich Premature Baby Unit and Dementia Awareness.

Trudie Smart, from Norfolk Knitters, said: “It’s a good idea to get this information out there, people need to know that this help is available. Many elderly people stay with the same company for years just because it’s easier.”

For further information on how to save money on energy bills contact Freebridge on 03332 404 444

It’s getting colder and the North Sea is getting more dangerous for those working out in its harsh conditions.

It also means repairs for equipment and whilst equipment is down, it needs to be covered…hence we are now in ‘Spares Season’.

Check out our blog post here

In business we often expect a high level of performance from people. Especially our management and sales people. We also expect them to be consistently successful year in year out, sometimes without updating knowledge to supportdevelopment, professionalism and confidence.

Tailoring training to the needs of your team is vital. Whether it’s managing a sales team, motivating them and developing a reward packageor being at the front line, our sales techniques training course will help to build your team’s knowledge and skills. If required, more focused individual training is also available – either way, we can help. Ultimately, your business will benefit from improved actions and results.

We can help you to improve sales conversion rates, achieve higher sales values, negotiate better prices with shorter sales cycles or refresh your leadership and management skills.

Investing in sales training is one of the most cost effective ways to improve business performance anduntil February 2017, you may also qualify for a Grant towards our training.

The Grant is available to Norfolk & Suffolk SME’s and is a simple application process (which we can help you with if required). Below are some details about the grant:

• Supports learning with grants up to £1500 per learner
• For employees (including Apprentices) over 19 years old
• Training is non – mandatory and boosts your productivity and efficiency by upskilling you or your staff
• Pays 25% for non-accredited and Levels 1-2 training and qualifications
• Pays 40% for Levels 3-4 qualifications (80% of the grant is available after 3 months of training)

If you would like more details or are interested in our Sales Training course, please contact Paton pat.powell@w-l-p.co.uk or 01953 882141.

PRODUCTION ADMINISTRATOR

We’re looking for a trainee Account Handler for our TV commercials department, which schedules every aspect of our TV productions from booking artistes to arranging shoots to liaising with broadcasters.

You must be organised, good at written presentation, figures, and Microsoft Office applications (especially Excel). You should be equally at home in a team or solo, cope under pressure, and be able to communicate accurately, enthusiastically and authoritatively with colleagues and clients.

Starting salary £16-19k depending on experience, plus contributory pension.

Please send CV and availability to: Elena Ford, TV Account Handler, JMS Group Limited, Hethersett, Norwich NR9 3DL or via e-mail to : elena.ford@jms-group.com

Closing date: 30th November 2016

Attleborough-based renewable heating expert Finn Geotherm, has been awarded small business of the year in the eastern heats of the national Chamber of Commerce Awards 2016.

Beating off stiff competition from across East Anglia, Finn Geotherm was awarded the title for its consistent growth backed by a strong financial performance, innovation and commitment to its staff. The company, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, installs ground and air source heat pumps that deliver heating and hot water using renewable energy.

Jason Williams, business manager of the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, said: “We are always trying to ensure that Norfolk is seen as a great place to do business and Finn Geotherm is a great example of innovation and success. I am just glad that this year, the BCC judges were able to see what we have been seeing.”

Guy Ransom, commercial director at Finn Geotherm, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this award. We have been proud members of Norfolk Chamber for many years and it was an honour to be crowned Small Business of the Year in the east, particularly as Finn Geotherm is celebrating its 10th anniversary. To win such a prestigious award is the icing on our birthday cake!”

David Alston, technical director at Finn Geotherm, added: “This award is testament to the hard work, passion and dedication of the entire team at Finn Geotherm, who have enabled the company to grow and expand over the past ten years. We are pleased to accept this award from Norfolk Chamber and very much look forward to the next ten years of installing more great heat pump systems across the region.”

Winners of the national Chamber awards will be announced in London on 25th November 2016.

For more information on Finn Geotherm, visit www.finn-geotherm.co.uk.