Member News

KLM UK Engineering & KLM Cityhopper jointly present an ex-Fokker 70 Rolls Royce Tay620 aircraft engine to University Technical College Norfolk. The engine will remain on display during 2016 for students and teachers to promote aviation and inspire students to lead the way to careers in aviation industry.

KLM UK Engineering Limited (KLMUKE) & KLM Cityhopper (KLC) are delighted to be presenting University Technical College (UTC) Norfolk with a rebuilt ex-Fokker 70 Rolls Royce Tay620 Engine, which will be displayed in the facility’s auditorium. The engine flew 26 years of revenue service at different airlines, and since 1996 operated for KLM Cityhopper (formerly Air-UK / KLM-UK).

The 2.4m-long engine, which has a dry weight of 3,310 lb (1,501 Kg) was received in a disassembled status from KLC and rebuilt by hand at KLMUKE by two engineering technicians over the last couple of months. UTC Norfolk has a broad engineering focus and is the perfect place to host this engine to build a bridge between students and real-life technology. The next host for the engine will be the International Aviation Academy in Norwich, which will receive the engine early 2017 when the new facility is commissioned.

Arjan Meijer, Managing Director, KLM UK Engineering – ‘Our Company is strongly dedicated to promoting aviation careers within the region, not only because working in aviation is motivating, challenging and fun, but also because we strongly need local skills and knowledge from the region to support our company in the future. This Rolls Royce engine will bring students at University Technical College Norfolk as close as possible to some of the prime technology behind flying aircraft and will help them take the right decisions for their future careers’.

Stefan Vermeeren, Fleet Manager Fokker 70 at KLM Cityhopper – ‘This Rolls Royce Tay engine played an important role for the 2.1 million passengers it carried. It connected them to their families, loved ones, holidays, careers and many other events. Driven by technology, engineering and maintained by professionals, this now continues at UTC Norfolk, made possible by KLMUKE and I hope it will inspire many students for years to come’.

Alex Hayes, Principal UTC Norfolk – ‘We are thrilled to receive this engine on loan from KLM UK Engineering and KLM Cityhopper. I am sure that it will inspire many young people to find out more about the fascinating world of aviation engineering. Indeed, I hope that many of our students will follow in the engine’s path as it makes the journey, next year,to its permanent home at thenew Aviation Academy’.

Potential students will be able to see the engine on display at UTC Norfolk for the next few months and will be in place for the Open Morning that is taking place on Saturday 6th February 2016 (10am-1pm).

Over 100 business leaders from across East Anglia took part in the Best Employers Eastern Region employee engagement seminar on Thursday 28 January, which also raised over £2,000 for two local charities.

The event was arranged as part of the ongoing Best Employers Eastern Region initiative, organised by professional recruitment specialists Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure) along with people development and psychometrics experts eras ltd. It attracted high profile guest speakers including Sharron Pommells, head of operations at Virgin Management, who discussed the productivity benefits of making your employees feel as important as your clients.

Participants also heard from Cathy Brown, part of the national employee engagement group ‘Engage for Success’, who discussed the business costs of not having engaged staff. Local guest speaker Steve Turpie, business transformation expert and founder of ASD1 Limited in Bury St Edmunds, covered techniques on building a deeper connection between employees and their company.

Lynn Walters, director at Pure, said: “Having 114 business people in a room, all brought together by the common goal of improving employee engagement in their organisations, resulted in a fantastic atmosphere. We originally founded the Best Employers initiative to help strengthen the region’s economy by supporting local businesses to attract, develop and retain more talented people. It’s grown immensely over the last four years. Now it looks set to develop even further, as around two-thirds of the people who took part in this latest seminar were all new to the initiative.”

The event also marked the launch of the next Best Employers Eastern Region employee survey, which is provided free of charge to local businesses every two years as part of the initiative. The surveys allows employers to gain insight as to how their employees perceive their organisations culture, learning and development, values, leadership style and communication.

Margaret Burnside, Director of People Development at eras Ltd, added: “A lot of common themes came out of the seminar. These included the importance of understanding the changing needs of employees and establishing what really motivates people as individuals. The Best Employers survey is a great way for businesses to help capture data around this. At the event, Sharron described the results of the Virgin staff surveys as being ‘as important as balance sheets’ when it comes to gathering information on employee engagement. We feel the same, which is why we provide local businesses with the tools to gather the same type of information. A similar online employee survey would typically cost an organisation in the region of £2k, but if businesses implement it as part of the Best Employers initiative we provide it completely free of charge.”

The seminar was also free for people to attend, but the organisers did ask participants to make a donation to their two chosen charities, raising £2,000 for St Helena Hospice in Colchester and Brightstars in Bury St Edmunds. The share of the money raised will have a significant impact on Brightstars in particular. This newly formed charity, set up by guest speaker Steve Turpie and his wife Paula, supports disabled children and young people through a Saturday club in Bury St Edmunds. This additional funding will cover the cost of bringing in another team member for a full year, opening up four more spaces for children to attend.

Businesses can still register to take part in the Best Employers Eastern Region 2016 survey which opens in April. Participants will also automatically entered into a series of awards which will be presented later this year to celebrate the region’s Best Employers across Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex. For more information visithttps://www.prs.uk.com/about-us/best-employers-initiativeor email Lucy Plumb onBestemployers@prs.uk.com

Digital Marketing Agency, Bigfork, have redesigned the website for the Property Investor Partnership who help their clients generate income through investing in UK property. The website is designed to be more appealing, easier to use and encourage visitors to Register to see what UK properties are available to purchase.

The website was optimised for search engines and also includes an easy to use content management system so that the website can be easily updated inhouse. The new site has already seen an increase in new registrations and further online marketing is planned to increase enquiries.

The new website is at www.propertyip.net

Bigfork – we make websites stand out T:01603 513080www.bigfork.co.uk

Flybe launches new flights from Norwich to Exeter

Flybe has today confirmed the launch of new direct flights from Norwich Airport to Exeter Airport in Devon, saving hours on the equivalent journey by road or rail.

The new flights will operate six days a week from 24 March with one-way fares starting from just £17.49, available at www.flybe.com

The new route is being supported by the Government’s Regional Air Connectivity Fund. This supports routes that might not initially be commercially viable, giving airlines time to build passenger numbers and deliver more sustainable services.

Richard Pace, General Manager at Norwich Airport, said: “Today’s announcement is further good news for Norwich Airport and we think this route will be popular with business and leisure passengers because the equivalent journey by road or rail takes five to six hours. The fact that the Government is supporting the new service with its Regional Air Connectivity Fund is further recognition of Norwich Airport’s role as a key economic driver in our region.

“We are also looking forward to the start in March of new flights to Alicante and Malaga through our partnership with Flybe. These year-round services mark the first time in almost a decade that Norwich has offered scheduled sunshine flights to Spain.”

Norwich Airport announced last October that airport owners Regional & City Airports, the airport division of Rigby Group, had entered a partnership agreement with Flybe to introduce new sunshine flights using one of Flybe’s E195 118-seater jet aircraft. Flybe will also launch a new service from Norwich to Geneva later this year.

Regional & City Airports owns Exeter Airport, Norwich Airport and Coventry Airport.

Copy ends

Notes to Editors

The timetable for the new flights to Exeter is as follows:

Monday – Friday

Sunday

Depart

Arrive

Depart

Arrive

Norwich to Exeter

15:20

16:40

12:20

13:40

Exeter to Norwich

12:05

13:15

10:45

11:55

About Norwich Airport

Norwich International Airport is part of Regional & City Airports, the airport management division of Rigby Group plc having been acquired in June 2014.

The Airport offers direct scheduled flights to Amsterdam (with connections to over 600 destinations worldwide), Aberdeen, Alicante, Edinburgh, Exeter, Guernsey, Jersey, Malaga and Manchester. Connections through Manchester enable passengers to reach Belfast, Glasgow, Isle of Man, Inverness and many more.

Holiday flights operate to the Balearic and Canary Islands, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Italy.

The scheduled airlines and charter operators currently active from the Airport are:

KLM, Eastern Airways, bmi regional, Flybe and Loganair Thomson, Thomas Cook, Balkan Holidays, Newmarket Holidays and Omega Holidays

The airport is a key hub for the southern North Sea offshore oil and gas industry. Four major offshore helicopter operators are based at the airport. These are Bristow, Bond CHC and NHV. Last year over 100,000 passengers travelled offshore from the Airport.

About Rigby Group plc

Formed in 1975, Rigby Group is the parent company for a portfolio of privately owned and highly successful businesses operating across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Rigby Group has diversified from its origins as a principally technology-led business and evolved – through smart, strategic acquisitions – into a £1.8 billion business with interests in the technology, airports, hotels, real estate, financial and aviation sectors. Rigby Group businesses include Europe’s largest independent technology provider SCC, British International Helicopters, the Eden Hotel Group, international property developers Rigby and Rigby and Regional & City Airports.

With two generations of the Rigby family at the helm, Rigby Group has built a distinguished reputation as both an investor and business operator; renowned for its independent thinking, seamless execution and a peerless approach to acquiring and nurturing businesses to unleash their potential.

About Regional & City Airports (RCA)

Regional & City Airports (RCA) is Rigby Group’s highly-innovative airport management company. RCA owns and operates Norwich Airport, Exeter Airport and Coventry Airport, holds management contracts for both Blackpool International Airport and City of Derry Airport and is actively building its portfolio of owned or managed airport assets across the next five years.

Regional airports are vitally important to the economic development of regions, not just in the UK but across the world. To survive and prosper, smaller regional airports need to cooperate and collaborate – enabling them to benefit from the economies of scale and sharing of best practice traditionally enjoyed by larger hub airports. This is the vision behind RCA.

RCA has built a reputation as an efficient, safe and commercially-savvy airport operator, driving improvements to route development, commercial revenues, operating costs and capital investment in order to deliver a consistently sound commercial return. As RCA grows it is increasingly able to leverage significant buying power and shared expertise. Already employing more than 650 people, RCA is on its way to becoming a leading player in the regional airport sector and is taking advantage of the lack of capacity at major hub airports in the UK to demonstrate how regional airports can ease the strain.

As a local family business, Norwich Sunblinds have always been keen to support other local businesses, so when they spotted a tweet asking if anyone could showcase some furniture in a shop window, they immediately replied.

The tweet was from Paul Wickett of Zebra Finchwhilst taking part in Norfolk Hour. Norfolk Hour is run by the Iceni Magazine. Anyone can join in the conversation using #norfolkhour between 8.30pm and 9.30pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

It’s a great way for local businesses to connect – which is exactly what happened in this instance.

Zebra Finch upcycle second-hand furniture. Norwich Sunblinds had a look at their website, loved their products, and loved the fact that the upcycling idea fitted in with their own environmentally friendly ethos.

A few weeks later Paul placed some of his key pieces of furniture in the windows of Norwich Sunblinds’ St Benedicts Street store. Since then each window display has changed around the furniture. The idea has worked – Paul has sold a number of pieces through the help of Norwich Sunblinds.

Paul’s business resonated on many levels with Norwich Sunblinds – both businesses involve craftsmanship – the blinds are made in Attleborough by local craftspeople, Paul uses his craftsmanship to turn unwanted pieces of furniture into beautiful products. Both businesses are committed to being environmentally friendly – Paul by upcycling second hand furniture and Norwich Sunblinds by sourcing all fabrics and components from the UK, thus reducing their carbon footprint. They also recycle their plastic, cardboard and metal and supply off cuts of fabrics to schools, playgroups and colleges.

Norwich Sunblinds are keen to encourage local business whenever they can; they are an active member of Buy Local Norfolk, taking part in the Lord Mayor’s Parade last Summer and attending Buy Local exhibitions and networking events. They also promoted local food producers in their prize draw hamper at the Norfolk Chamber exhibition last October.

This is one of the reasons (along with fantastic products and great customer care, of course!) that Norwich Sunblinds have been in business for over 30 years.

We are delighted to announce that we are working with Stonehage Fleming and Partners. The company has recently undergone a merger between Stonehage and the Fleming family who created the James Bond series. The merger of the two firms has enabled Stonehage Fleming to become the largest asset management company in the world, looking after a total of £42 billion worth of assets including family wealth, property and art.

What work we have done for them

As part of the new merger, Stonehage Fleming needed a new website to combine the brands and this included a new image, colour scheme and values. But an issue with new sites is that Google may take weeks or months to update and your brand may fall off Google temporarily.

Our role as consultants wasto focus on the SEO, which is our speciality. We needed to ensure a smooth transitition of the new websites and allow the brands to maintain their high positions on Google so the firm couldbe easily contacted by existing and potential clients.

As a result, we focused heavily on cleaning up all the broken links and pages on the new site, a cleaned up link profile and some fresh content in the form of meta-data, text and images. In addition, we had to ensure all the correct address (all 13 offices) were showing correctly on Google maps and could be found easily by clients. We engaged in thorough testing to make surethe site worked well on all devices of desktop, mobile and tablet to consolidate the user experience.

We maximised the crawling and indexing of the site with a brand new sitemap and updated the webmaster tools account accordingly.We have monitored the search results very carefully using our SEO tools and have ensured that the new site has been ranking strongly since its launch, especially for competitive keywords such as family office.

We are thrilled to be working with Stonehage Fleming and wish them the best of luck with their new venture.

We are happy to announce thatMoosey Artthe city’s newest and most excitingart galleries has jumped on board our digital signage networks across Norfolk! Using our network of screens Moosey Art are looking to increase brand awareness of the gallery, and promote their latest solo exhibition ‘SUN SHINE OUT OF MY ARTS’ by the extremely talented artist Carl Cashman coming up in February.Based out of Devon Carl Cashman has shown work all over the world in places such as: New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Miami, Amsterdam.

Moosey Art is an Urban/contemporary art gallery down Bridwell Alley which is part of the famous Norwich Lanes andofferslimited edition prints, sort after original works, promoting local Norwich based talent as well as bringing in some of the worlds greatest artists. Originallystarted in 2013 with the aim to createpop up exhibitions, bringing in the worlds greatest street artists as well as introducing people to fresh up and coming talent.After every exhibition Moosey’s reach became bigger and eventually were in a position to open up their very own gallery in 2015.

Next door to the art gallery you will find the city’s latest cafe/bar’The Alley’which opened it’s doors in December 2015. Working closely withMoosey Art the door between the café and gallery is always open, so you can drift between the two as you please. The Alley providesgreat cups of coffee, choice beers, spirits, friendly conversation a vibrant and creative atmosphere, a very clever collaboration between two businesses.

Moosey Art is also involved with some brilliant local projects such as ‘Get Walls’ a project with approved permission to paint on residential and commercial properties in Norwich, working with local and international artists in order to decorate and brighten up the city. Moosey Artare also involved with ‘The Underground Gallery’ which can be found down the underpass on St Stephens roundabout. With the help of 48 local artists they have managed to transform the underpass from an eyesore into a pleasant and vibrant walk for commuters!

It’s a pleasure to be working alongside such a remarkable new business -increasing brand it’s awareness on our ‘Domination Circuit’ comprising of three screens and has a weekly audience of 350,000+ people. Moosey Art is certainly an asset to the business/local community and showcases what our fine city is about!

For more information on their latest exhibition visit their facebook event page Carl Cashman ‘Sun Shines Out Of My Arts’.For more information about Moosey Art, other up and coming exhibitions, the shop gallery, the artists and more, visit their website –www.mooseyart.co.uk

I often find myself describing the structure of tech companies in Norfolk to people. In terms of size we have Aviva at the top, a lower layer of large SMEs such as Validus, Proxama, Virgin Wines and EPoS Now in the middle and then countless micro businesses and smaller SMEs at the bottom. I’ve been aware of Brandbank for a while, but they’ve always been a bit of an enigma to me. It turns out it’s not just me and this is something they’re keen to do something about. It also turns out that with a two hundred strong workforce in Norwich alone, they deserve to be mentioned in the middle layer.

To help raise their profile locally, Brandbank are engaging in a number of local activities with the tech and business communities in Norwich. Their CIO Jeremy Glenn has spoken at the Norfolk Network, the company is a partner sponsor of NorDevCon and on Thursday Jeremy spoke about Brandbank to SyncNorwich at Whitespace. Why do Brandbank want to raise their profile locally? They need more software developers. They need quite a few of them and they need them quickly to help sustain the company’s growth.

The core business of Brandbank is to help retailers get their products online. They’re one of only a few companies who do this and they do it for a lot of large supermarkets as well as thousands of other clients. Following their inception in the late 90s, Brandbank have seen incredible growth in revenue, with very modest profits and only broke even in 2007. Since then they have seen steady growth in profits. In late 2014 they were bought by Nielsen.

Jeremy told us all about his background, how he came to join Brandbank and then how he became a director. He described many of the different things Brandbank has tried over the years, what had worked and what hadn’t and what they learned from it. Jeremy also described the horrific process of preparing to be acquired, the false starts and intensive due diligence.

Although clearly a shrewd businessman, Jeremy clearly doesn’t take himself too seriously. It was interesting to finally find out what Brandbank do and the delivery was entertaining. It will be equally interesting to see how Norwich’s previously best kept secret grows over the coming years.

Written by Paul Grenyer

Shield Health and Safety have got off to a flying start in 2016 by being shortlisted for the prestigious RTITB Partner Achievement Award.

Being shortlisted for theaward has emphasised the determination the team at Shield has, in achieving a high standard when it comes to Forklift Training.

We are humbled by the fact that we have been trading for only a short time and yet have been recognised by our accrediting body, the RTITB in achieving this nomination.

The team looks forward to attending the even in February with a hope of returning with its first trophy!

https://www.shieldhealthandsafety.co.uk/shield-shortlisted-for-the-rtitb-…

Staff are putting interesting work and good management ahead of salary when it comes to job satisfaction, says the acclaimed Cooper Lomaz annual salary survey 2016 for Norfolk.

Now in its 11th year, the in-depth report by independent recruitment consultants Cooper Lomaz, which has offices in Norwich, compares salaries and analyses trends in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Essex in the key sectors of:

• Accountancy and Finance
• Engineering
• Food Manufacturing
• Information Technology
• Sales and Marketing
• and Supply Chain

It reports that salaries and job opportunities are continuing to rise as the economy recovers.

It says salaries are only placed third when it comes to employee job satisfaction, sitting behind an interesting job and good management.

And skills shortages in some sectors mean employees are benefiting from a bidding war of salary offers as their existing bosses try to retain their services.

Average salaries in the county were £30,992, compared to £31,193 in Suffolk, £33,951 in Essex, £34,453 in Northamptonshire, £37,754 in Cambridgeshire and £41,908 in Hertfordshire.

Norfolk Trends include:

• Record numbers of salary counter-offers as Accountancy and Finance employers seek to retain staff seeking new jobs
• A slump in the oil and gas industry seeing staff looking to use their skills in other sectors
• Food Manufacturing staff being recruited from Europe and major shortage of engineering candidates in the sector
• A shortage of qualified candidates in IT. Companies with the slickest recruitment systems will pick up the best staff in competitive times
• Sales candidates with proven track record outweigh those with qualifications or degrees
• Supply Chain employers value candidates with quality training including apprentices

Cooper Lomaz Operations Director Mark Fletcher said the growth over the last year, and anticipated again in 2016, is a reassuring sign of confidence in the market as the economy continues its recovery.

More than half the surveyed businesses (55%) are planning to expand staffing this year as the economy is projected to grow by 2%.

Wages are increasing slightly at around 4%, with 58% of those surveyed enjoying a salary increase.

Companies are being encouraged to up their game with improved benefits, holidays, training and career opportunities to attract and retain staff.

The report is compiled from information provided by more than 2,000 professionals in specialist sectors, along with data from interviews with more than 15,000 candidates. The survey, which is most comprehensive to date, is a key tool in helping client companies and HR professionals gauge market trends, pay and benefits.

Cooper Lomaz Recruitment, which was started by two Norfolk businesswomen in 1990 and now has a turnover of around £15m, is itself looking to expand by 10% and hire another eight people for its offices at Norwich and Bury St Edmunds.

The survey will be circulated to Cooper Lomaz clients with highlights on the company website www.cooperlomaz.co.uk

• Article submitted by Newsmakers PR

Pure (Pure Resourcing Solutions) has hit the massive milestone of a grand total of £100k raised for over 20 different charities.

The grand total has been achieved through sustained fundraising efforts by team members at all four of the recruitment agency’s offices in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich and Norwich since 2002.

The fundraising activity has ranged from daring challenges including the gruelling 24-hour National Three Peaks Challenge and a sponsored sky dive, alongside local events such as Cambridge’s annual Chariots of Fire relay race, the Ipswich Colour Dash and the Colchester half marathon, as well as national events including Movember and Comic Relief. Each office also hosts its own annual charity quiz night and further charitable donations have been collected at the various seminars and events which Pure holds for the local business community.

Over 24 different charities have now benefited from a share of the £100k raised by Pure in the last 13 years. This includes substantial donations to local charities including Pure’s overall chosen charity of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, which has benefitted from over £62,000. Significant donations have also been made to The J’s Hospice in Chelmsford, Arthur Rank Hospice Charity in Cambridgeshire, The Matthew Project in Norwich and the St Nicholas Hospice in Bury St Edmunds. National charitable organisations including Children in Need, Cancer Research and Action for Children have also benefited.

Gill Buchanan, Director at Pure, said: “As a socially responsible business we’ve always actively supported local charities and we are all extremely proud of having reached such a significant milestone in our fundraising activity.

“Here at Pure we believe that charity fundraising challenges are not only an important part of a company’s corporate social responsibility. They can also have a far wider impact on reinforcing a sense of teamwork and camaraderie, a culture which many businesses strive to achieve. We support our employees in any charity challenges they wish to undertake themselves, giving them additional time off to enable them to complete their chosen goal and kick-starting their fundraising with a £250 donation.”

Alongside financial donations, team members at Pure have also donated significant amounts of time to local charities over the last thirteen years. This has included volunteering their skills at decorating and gardening to help transform the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice in Quidenham, decorating at Woodgreen Animal Shelter and the Chelmsford CHESS homeless shelter. They have also sent gifts and essential goods to be delivered to a school in Gambia.

Pure’s continued commitment to fundraising has helped the organisation to be recognised at various awards including, most recently, being selected as finalists in the Corporate Social Responsibility category at last year’s East Anglian Daily Times Business Awards.

Building on a successful start in Norfolk, social enterprise Swarm Apprenticeships Ltd have partnered with the RSA to strengthen their quest in Norwichto liberate and support young and talented business heroes through enterprising apprenticeships.

Founded by successful entrepreneur and bestselling business author, Robert Ashton, Swarm aims to develop young business apprentices across Norfolk, Suffolk and soon Essex. They support them to become commercially aware, enterprising and effective to their employers to deliver the greatest return on investment for businesses. Swarm offers a unique enterprise qualification and strives to grow enterprising attitudes in young people.

The RSA backs Swarm as part of their Catalyst initiative which supports RSA Fellows to get their innovative ideas and projects growing into new areas.

On April 14th2016, Swarm strengthens theirquest with an introduction event for local enterprising business owners who want to give a real opportunity for a young person to make an impact in their business and become an Enterprise Hero. The event will be heldat The Garagefrom 4.30pm. Local employers are encouraged to attend to hear from Swarm’s Founder, partner representatives about why the quest is important to the local area, and current business and apprentice champions. Sister events will also run in Colchester (Mercury Theatre, March 3rd) andIpswich (UCS, March 8th).

Swarm’s Managing Director, Chris Perry, comments,”This event is an opportunity to find out more about our unique apprenticeship training that focuses on developing both an apprentice’s commercial skills and enterprising attitude. We are looking for enterprising and innovative employers who want to give someone a real opportunity to shine and make their mark in their business.At the eventyou’ll get to find out how, over the last year, Swarm apprentices have already achieved significant impact and return for their employers and become commercially savvy young business professionals who will be the leaders oftomorrow’s economy.”

Find out more about the eventand how to book here.

Meet some current Swarm business members and Enterprise Heroes…

“I chose Swarm apprentice Harry to do my digital marketing because he understands it! On top of that Harry is enthusiastic about it, spotting opportunities in the digital world all the time and he’s a really great communicator. We’ve given him the empowerment to do all of our product photography for our digital marketing, which is incredibly important to us.” Simon Middleton, Owner and Founder, The Shackleton Company.

“What I felt was different about the Swarm apprenticeship compared to other apprenticeship providers is the focus to coach and develop a more business-like mindset, which I felt would be ideal for someone like me. Life as a Swarm apprentice could not be better. The workshops are both fun and, most importantly, useful and informative, and everyone involved in the running of the apprenticeship is very supportive and clearly wants to help and watch you succeed.” George Balding, apprentice, DSP Supplies.

“Why Swarm? I feel passionately that our education system doesn’t suit everyone. Many young people are pushed down the university route when it isn’t right for them. I feel lucky to have the chance to help a young entrepreneur navigate his first years in business and to have his fresh perspective in my company. I’m glad that Swarm matched us up and remain active in helping us along this journey. It’s going to be exciting to see where it leads us all.” Lorna Burroughes, Owner and Founder, Thrive Networking.

“My Swarm apprenticeship has made the business that I work in more efficient because it’s helped me develop more skills. The opportunities that I’ve been given here are amazing and I feel really grateful for it. It’s different to a normal business apprenticeship because it’s more inventive and you get a lot more involved. Swarm are just so with it and new, and they’re always there.” Berri Lake, apprentice, Ormiston Victory Academy.

www.swarmapprentice.org.uk /01953 609 752 / carl@swarmgroup.org.uk