Join BritCham Philippines on 29 January 2016, 10.30am (BST) for a free webinar on the power and energy sector in the Philippines. Get an overview of the sector and find out the different business opportunities available to you.
Speakers are from the Department of Energy and from the private secotr to present the challenges, opportunities, growth potential and how foreign companies can be involved. A Q&A will follow to answer any queries.
Registration for this event is on or before25 January 2016click here to register.
On 8-9 March 2016, BritCham Philippines will also be organisinga Trade Mission on Power/ Energy and Infrastructure Sectors. Please email Rona Diaz if you’re interested to join: rdiaz@britcham.org.ph
Norfolk Chambers is proud to support the launch of the Norfolk Ambassadors Programme, a new initiative from the Norfolk Business Board designed to celebrate and promote Norfolk as a dynamic, inclusive, and inspiring place to do business.
The programme brings together respected voices from across the county, including business leaders, educators, volunteers, and public sector figures, united by a shared goal: to tell the real story of Norfolk and its people.
Why Norfolk? Share Your Story
As part of the launch, we’re asking individuals and organisations to contribute to ‘Why Norfolk’ — a growing collection of real-life testimonials from across the region. Whether you’re a start-up founder, an apprentice, a community leader, or a long-standing local business, we want to hear from you.
Please tell us:
· Why is Norfolk a great place to run or grow a business?
· What advantages has your business found here?
· What makes this county special to you?
We’re looking for authentic stories told in your own words, whether that’s a short video, a photo of your business in action, or a few sentences that covers why Norfolk from your own perspective.
Submit your story now via our quick and easy form:
The Norfolk Ambassadors Programme isn’t about polished branding or tired clichés. It’s about real people with real pride in their county, showcasing innovation, creativity, and community spirit across Norfolk’s towns, coastlines, and city centres.
Whether you’re based in Great Yarmouth, King’s Lynn, Norwich, Thetford, or anywhere in between, your voice matters. Your experiences help shape the bigger picture of what Norfolk offers businesses, talent, and future investors.
Get Involved
Over the coming months, your stories will be featured across the new Norfolk Ambassadors website, social media, and local events, including a special showcase at next week’s Royal Norfolk Show 2025, where visitors can record live testimonials in the Business Zone.
So, if you’ve ever wanted to champion the place you call home, you now have the perfect platform.
Three members of the Virgin Money creative studio team have caught the entrepreneurial bug and quit their jobs at Branson’s bank to set up their own business, A Fine Studio – a brand new creative agency based right in the heart of Norwich.
Following in Sir Richard’s footsteps, Kelly Smith, Steve Kirkendall and Rob Skinn often talked about running their own business during casual lunchtime chats. Having both clocked up a decade at Virgin, Rob and Steve contributed to building the challenger bank’s brand identity, while Kelly joined as a senior copywriter in 2013, having worked freelance in the UK and abroad for brands like MINI, Google and Carlsberg. Together, they worked on high profile campaigns for the bank, the Virgin Money London Marathon and the company’s charitable venture, Virgin Money Giving.
The team says, “Running an agency had long been an ambition for all of us. We love working creatively together, and realised we’d finally found the perfect business partners. Taking the leap into the unknown with like-minded people, means we’re able to run our own business our way and build the right culture right from the very beginning.”
With their roots very firmly in Norwich, they’re so proud of the fine city they work in, they’ve even named their business after it. Kelly is a graduate of the prestigious MA in Creative Writing at UEA, and is a scriptwriter too, with her film short being shot this spring. Steve returned to his home city back in the 90’s after working as a Creative Director in London and Chicago, and Rob was born, bred, and built his career as a respected web developer in Norwich. Since leaving Virgin Money the trio hasn’t looked back, with international clients like Eastpak USA joining the agency within their very first week.
The team’s excited to be involved in Norwich’s thriving business community too; Rob and Steve both volunteered their time at Norwich’s Sync the City event that brought local start up founders and tech professionals together for three exciting days in November. Based at NUA’s cutting edge new start up workspace, the Ideas Factory, A Fine Studio is a small creative agency with big brand experience. They offer film and motion graphics, copywriting and online strategy, design and digital, branding and identity and illustration and animation.
The UK Government has committed to holding an in-out referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU) by the end of 2017. In November 2015, Prime Minister David Cameron outlined his proposals for reform in a letter to the President of the European Council Donald Tusk. The four objectives for the Prime Minister’s renegotiation of the UK’s membership of the European Union were:
Ensuring that steps to further financial union cannot be imposed on non-Eurozone countries, such as the UK
Boosting competitiveness by setting a target for the reduction of the “burden” of red tape
Exempting Britain from “ever-closer union” and enhancing national parliaments’ ability to block EU legislation
Restricting EU migrants’ access to in-work benefits such as tax credits
A response to David Cameron’s letter was received in December. The main sticking point has been opposition from countries including Hungary and Poland to the idea of the four year ban on claiming some UK benefits. The message from the rest of the EU is that there cannot be a policy which discriminates against other EU nationals.
As the Prime Minister tours Europe highlighting Britain’s stance and looking to drum up support from other EU leaders, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) will be once again polling Chamber members across the UK to find out what the local business communities think about the EU Referendum. This will enable the British Chambers of Commerce to understand business views on reform of the EU, and the UK’s future relationship with the EU. You can have your sayhere.
The results of a previous BCC poll on the EU Referendum, held in August 2015, highlighted that if an in-out referendum were to be held immediately, 63% of businesspeople would vote to remain in the European Union, 27% would vote to leave, and 10% are unsure. Yet fully 50% said their vote could change depending on David Cameron’s renegotiation package.
The survey period is from Monday 25 January 2015 to Thursday 04 February 2015 and the results will be published a few weeks later.
A public consultation has now opened to gather views on a proposed merger of Great Yarmouth College, Lowestoft College and Lowestoft Sixth Form College.
The vision set out by the three colleges is to create a new, three-campus institution, under the name ‘East Coast Colleges Group’. This would see each campus maintain its name, individual strengths and specialisms, but come together under one new, overarching organisation.
This proposed merger is as a result of the three colleges participating in a pioneering area review in 2015. This was designed to identify the opportunities and challenges faced by those delivering post-16 education in the local area and to address ways to protect and enhance the provision available.
The discussions raised through the review have led to the proposal to create a combined college group. It is proposed that the merger would result in the colleges being better equipped to deliver a full range of vocational and traditional academic courses, with integrated degree level opportunities, while maintaining a more solid financial footing at a time when public funding is under increasing pressure.
The overall aim is to preserve and expand the excellent academic offer of Lowestoft Sixth Form College and the much-valued technical and professional education and training of both Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth Colleges. By coming together the colleges will be able to capitalise on their individual strengths and become more resilient, and better able to face the challenges ahead. The attached consultation document sets out in more detail the background to the proposal, the reasons for the merger and the benefits and opportunities available.
They believe this proposal offers Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth a forward-thinking plan which addresses the needs of local students, parents and employers, and which will act as a catalyst for local and regional economic prosperity. Now we would like to give you the opportunity to have your say. We want to work together to shape the best possible future for our colleges, and for all those who depend on them for a great future.
Your views are extremely important to them and will be given full consideration before any final decisions are made by the colleges. They would welcome your responses to the following questions:
Do you agree that by merging, the three colleges will be able to more effectively meet the needs of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft’s students, communities and employers?
If ‘yes’, what specific advantages can you see?
If ‘no’, please indicate what you see as the potential disadvantages
Are there any areas that you would particularly wish to see addressed through the merger, e.g. local needs that are inadequately represented under current arrangements?
How might you or your organisation be involved in or support this merger?
Are there any other comments you would like us to take into consideration?
Alternatively you are welcome to email your responses to eccg@fouragency.co.uk or write to them at: East Coast Colleges Group Consultation, C/O FOUR Agency, Hill House, 20 Hill House Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 4BE.
The deadline for responses is 5pm on Friday 19 February 2016.
Leading business group publishes letter signed by leaders of 52 Chambers of Commerce – every accredited Chamber of Commerce in the UK – demanding improved digital and mobile connectivity for UK business
On the closing day of the government’s consultation on the UK’s future digital strategy (19 January), the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) calls for the government to match the scope and ambition of other countries to create a solid foundation for future business growth.
In a letter signed by all 52 Accredited Chambers across the country to the Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, the leading business group has highlighted areas where a lack of action is impeding business growth – including mobile coverage, supplier competition, and insufficient broadband coverage and speeds.BCC Director General, John Longworth, presented the letter to the Culture Secretary at a meeting on 14 January.
Unless UK businesses see swift improvements in reliability, speed, coverage and competition, individual companies’ performances – and UK productivity – may be severely affected.
Commenting, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:
“The digital world is changing daily, and UK firms have a track record as global innovators and leaders. However, the infrastructure they rely upon is failing to keep pace.
“Britain may lead the world in e-commerce, but many offices, business parks and road and rail routes lack both mobile and broadband connectivity. Unless we set the bar high – and ensure UK companies have access to world-class digital infrastructure – we will be out-competed by others around the globe.
“The UK government must set a far more ambitious digital strategy, starting with an immediate action plan to boost mobile and fibre connections for business. Companies of every size and sector, in every nation and region, are reporting connectivity problems. We need action from ministers, regulators, service providers and businesses themselves if we want to stay competitive in future.”
Specific areas of concern highlighted by the BCC were:
Broadband– 24Mbps is the speed the government defines as superfast, but this does not compare favourably with many other EU countries who define it as 30Mbps+. To ensure strong performance there must be funding equivalent to the rollout of superfast broadband to extend Ultrafast broadband across the UK, as outlined in the BCC’s spending review submission.
Mobile coverage– Mobile phones are crucial to businesses for many aspects of their daily work, and for this reason poor mobile coverage must be eliminated. The government, regulators and service providers must act now to target areas of low connectivity, including many business parks and on primary road and rail routes.
Improved competition– Improved competition and investment in the broadband market will boost access and choice for businesses. Ofcom’s review of the UK’s digital communications markets has come at the right time, and we look forward to the full findings and recommendations of this review.
Lead the world in developing 5G technology– The government must ensure necessary funding is in place to drive research into 5G in order to make this a reality in the next decade. If the UK is a leading player in technologies like 5G, it can roll out the technology more quickly to give businesses a strong competitive advantage and boost productivity.
On Tuesday 26th January, over 35 delegates joined us to learn about business opportunities in South East Asia at Holiday Inn Norwich. The venue provided a spacious setting where delegates were able to network over tea & coffee, followed by 3 presentations from expert speakers discussing the key areas of trade in South East Asia; Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Norfolk Chamber’s International Trade Manager, Julie Austin welcomed delegates to the event and thanked UKTI for sponsoring the event before introducing Ximena Florian, Overseas Business Network Advisor UKTI East of England. Ximena explained to delegates who the Overseas Business Network are and what services they can provide to UK companies.
Next up we had Anh Luong, Vietnam Overseas Business Network Partner who went into great detail about what Vietnam and Malaysia are looking to invest in. Anh explained whilst sectors such as education, retail, manufacturing are great opportunities to the UK there are still challenges which companies will face when trading with these areas.
We then took a short break and treated delegates to tea and cake to help them process the information just received.
The second half of the event was spilt into two more presentations in which Ximena Florian covered trading opportunities in Indonesia and Singapore, followed by a presentation from Roy Dallison, UK Representative of the British Chamber of Commerce Philippines, who discussed the opportunities the Philippines offer and also shared some success stories of UK companies trading in the area.
We closed the event with a short Q&A, after which, many delegates took this opportunity to talk further with the speakers and get in some final networking to make those all-important contacts.
On Thursday 28th January we took over 20 lanes at Hollywood Bowl Norwich for a competitive evening, with 150 members joining us for our annual bowling challenge.
The challenge was even bigger this year as we increased the team sizes to 8 per lane, totalling up some high scores. The evening was filled with plenty of laughter and a relaxed atmosphere for delegates to make new connections.
One of the challenges on the night included Hollywood Bowl’s ‘Pink Pin Challenge’. If the pink pin landed in a lane, the next bowler must bowl a strike to win their team a bottle of Prosecco. In the end two teams walked away with this victory, which also saw Peter Bussey of Anglia Business Cleaning win our ‘Most Stylish Bowler’ award for a tremendous strike!
All the bowling action was followed by an incredible buffet provided by the Hollywood Bowl team, and of course the announcement of our winners…
Taking the Super Bowl Challenge 2016 Trophy back to the office was Tank Replacement Services, with an average score of 119.125 (total score 953). The extra decimal place worked in their favour as team Natwest came close second with an average score of 119 (total score 714).
Tank Replacement Services seemed to have a winning streak however as team member Daniel Copplestone won top score of the night with an overall score of 182!
View our photo gallery from the evening here, and this year you can see your scores on the table below!
Overall the evening was enjoyed by all, with some even staying behind for a few extra bowls. Our fun After Hours Series doesn’t stop here though, coming up we have a Cocktail Evening and a Quiz Night Challenge.
Norfolk Chamber’s Events Assistant Samantha Brown will be taking to the skies to join domestic violence charity Leeway in a 13,000ft charity Tandem Skydive.
Leeway is a local charity that support over 8000 adults, children and young people every year. “I believe the work they do is vital for people in Norfolk. It’s a charity very close to my heart who I’ve even had the pleasure of working with through my current job role.”
After making the jump, Sam will be falling at about 120mph, descending to 5,000 feet in around 40 seconds. The skydive will be taking place at Beccles airfield on Sunday 20th March.
GDP growth in the UK weakened in 2015, with the construction sector back in recession
UK unemployment drops to ten-year low, but earnings growth continues to weaken
GDP growth in the world’s two largest economies slows, as IMF cuts global outlook
UK GDP growth slowed in 2015. Despite a slight improvement in Q4 the overall annual growth was 1.9%, down from the growth of 2.1%.
The service sector remained the dominant sector in the UK, whilst construction slipped back into recession. This highlights the Chambers’ view that the UK’s economy is becoming even more unbalanced.
China, the world’s second-largest economy grew by 6.9% in 2015 – this is the lowest rate since 1990.
In a world geared to more, how can we learn to stress less?
The problem for many of us today is that we live our lives in our heads. Continually judging, comparing and analysing, constantly distracted by emails, phone calls and texts, obsessed with updating our social media profiles. We bring work home, we bring home to work. There just doesn’t seem to be time in the day to find space for anything else.
It’s a stressful, anxious way of life, but what’s the solution?
Open your mind to the Power of a Pause
We believe the secret to putting stress on hold is to introduce the Power of a Pause into your everyday life. Two minutes in every hour when we stop, step back and clear the mental clutter.
Because when we open our minds to the Power of a Pause, we open new paths to personal happiness, improved health and a better way of life.
Meet the Human Business
The Human Business is a leading provider of Mindfulness training for individuals and organisations across the UK and Europe. Through our Intelligent Body Agile Mind (IBAM) programs, we address your physical, mental and emotional health by incorporating Qigong or Mindful Movement in our program.
Specifically designed for the office environment, the Power of a Pause is an IBAM program that teaches you how to combat stress and musculoskeletal pain in the workplace. Improving the quality of your life now, tomorrow and long into the future.
Recognise the Power of a Pause?You’re not aloneWith the world on permanent fast forward, it’s little wonder that many now recognise the benefits of pausing for thought with organisations such as Apple, Google, Virgin and the Deutsche Bank all becoming increasingly mindful of their employees needs.
Why not join them?
If you too can recognise the value of learning the Power of a Pause, why not take a moment to get in touch. The sooner you do, the longer you’ll have to enjoy the benefits of a healthier, less stressful way of living.
For more details and to book an introductory session, simply contact Deniz Paradot on 03330 118999 or connect@thehumanbusiness.co.uk
China‘s economy is in the media every day, but what is the reality for UK companies in 2016?
The China-Britain Business Council will be hosting the 4th Annual China Business Conference on 22 March 2016 at the QEII Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London. the Conferencewill analyse the key business issues affecting UK companies in 2016. From macro policies to the day-to-day business environment on the ground, expert speakers – drawn from business, academia and government – will equip you to make the right China business decisions.
The conference for 2016 will focus on:
The 13th Five Year Plan & The New Normal
Hong Kong as a ‘Super Connector’ – China to a wider Asia market
Innovation through Technology
Healthy China’? The Challenges and Opportunities
Belt and Road: Partnering in Third Markets
Made in China 2025: Sustainable Industrial Transformation
Reaching China’s Digital Consumer
For more information and to register please click here.