Last Thursday night was one of Norfolk’s biggest events in the annual business calendar, with our gold Patron’s Anglian Water sponsoring the event, and over five hundred people attending from the business community. This certainly showcased the talent and innovation in our county. Host, Katherine Ryan certainly added a new dimension to the evening and demonstrated a real fondness for the county too, as well as being a great hostess!
We are so happy for our members who won the category’s below, a very big well done!
We’re now about to enter the final week of the campaign and Small Business Saturday (1st December) is only just over a week away. The theme for the final week is Shop Local. This is all about encouraging audiences to support and/or purchase from small businesses and to use the Small Business Finder to do so. Small Business Saturday is an independent grassroots movement that the government are supporting. The campaign aims to promote the value of small businesses to local communities; provide support to small businesses; and encourage the public to shop small and shop local. Why support Small Business Saturday?
Small businesses are the backbone of the UK economy
Over 99% of the UK’s 5.7m businesses are small
We want to highlight government support on offer to help small businesses start-up and grow
Government support is available for small businesses and entrepreneurs
How can you support?
Share local stories of small businesses on your channels
Follow us on twitter (@HMGEast) and retweet and like our regional case studies. We’d love to spread the message about how brilliant the small and local businesses in the East of England are.
Norfolk Chamber are taking part in the Active Norfolk Workplace Challenge 2018. (We currently sit in the top 20 companies/organisations taking part for ‘actvitity points’!)
Companies and organisations across Norfolk are invited to take park in the ‘Workplace Challenge’. The aim of the programme is to promote sport, physical activity and health improvements. You can sign up to take part for free.
One of the oldest accountancy in Norwich, Larking Gowen began back in 1888, originally set up by Charles Larking in Norwich, then in 1969, the company merged with another Norwich accountants Harman & Gowen, thus Larking Gown was formed and has continued to grow into the company we know today. Now one of the UK’s top 40 accountancy firms with eight offices across the region. It is a company that has certainly managed growth and seen a number of changes in all our working practices over the years. Staff wellbeing is certainly now at the heart of Larking Gowen since they launched their wellbeing programme. This programme is continually evolving and developing through engagement with their staff and Wellbeing Champions. It is great to see Larking Gowen’s forward thinking and investment in their staff support. This has gained them recognition and is now part of their working culture. Selected as the Regional winner of Workplace Wellbeing Award, Larking Gowen met all the BCC Judges criteria below; • Evidence that the health and wellbeing of your employees are embedded in your businesses culture • The activities that your organisation undertakes to promote and encourage the positive health and wellbeing of your staff • How you assess your employee’s health and wellbeing needs • The impact that your health and wellbeing initiatives have had on your employees and the wider business. The Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is delighted for Larking Gowen winning this award and we wish them well in the next stage of the completion. https://www.britishchambers.org.uk/events/chamber-awards
The ‘Norfolk Business Brexit Sounding Board’ is a Norfolk County Council forum for Norfolk businesses to raise and discuss issues impacting on them as a result of Brexit.
It works in collaboration with partners including Norfolk Chamber, Norwich Airport, the FSB, CBI, University of East Anglia and some well-known local businesses such as: Kettle Foods, Lovewell Blake, Birketts, Saxon Air and Regional Freight.
Following the publication of the Withdrawal Agreement, the Brexit Sounding Board wants to understand how the local business community is feeling now. We would like you to take part in a short survey – it only takes a few minutes and your responses will help form the basis of the discussions for Brexit Sounding Board going forwards.
UK trade deficit in goods and services was £3.1bn in March, down from £3.4bn in February
Value of UK exports rose by 3.5% between February and March, while imports rose by 2.6% in the same period
Commenting on the UK trade figures for March 2013, published today by the ONS, David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said:
“While it is pleasing to see an upturn in exports in March, Britain’s trade deficit remains disappointingly large. It is clear that we are not making enough progress in rebalancing the economy towards net exports. The figures also highlight the need to make further inroads into faster-growing regions across the rest of the world, while the eurozone, our biggest trading partner, continues to struggle.
“More action is needed to utilise the untapped potential of many British exporters, particularly in the services sector, so that businesses can drive a sustainable recovery. The government must implement measures it has previously announced to support firms looking to break into new markets. In addition, we clearly need a national export strategy focusing on key areas such as trade finance, insurance, and promotion, to enable companies to compete on equitable terms.”
Tracey Howard, International Trade Direct at the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:
“More and more businesses are now realising the importance of international trade, so in my opinion, this year will see an increase in businesses starting to trade with new markets.
The Global Marketplace series of events that we organised during 2012/13, were attended by delegates who have never been to our events before, and they were very keen to start trading in the countries that we were highlighting.
This year we will be taking a closer look at the business opportunities in more high growth countries: India, Brazil, Qatar, Russia, South Africa and Vietnam. Exporting to these countries will help businesses flourish financially, which in turn will help to lower Britain’s trade deficit.”
The Chamber Business Awards recognises and celebrates the success of UK businesses across the country. Entries from Aberdeen to Cornwall flock in from organisations of all sizes and sectors. Rewind back to September when the regional finalists were announced, and five Norfolk businesses won awards in six categories out of a possible seven in the Eastern region. Our winners were:
Fast forward to Thursday 29th November, regional winning businesses and Chambers across the country gather at Tobacco Dock, London to compete for the national titles. The evening got into full swing when host Jenni Falconer began announcing the winners, and we had our fingers and toes crossed for our finalists. It was a great result for Norfolk businesses as two were crowned runner-up in their categories. They were:
Larking Gowen LLP, National Runner Up in the Workplace Wellbeing Award
Liftshare, National Runner Up in the Employer of the Year Award
As the awards continued and there were just two left to announce, we were feeling proud of the achievements of our finalists so far… and then we had a winner!!
Gnaw Chocolate took home the national title of Small Business of the Year 2018 – sponsored by Facebook!
From more than 750 applicants, to regional heats, we are so pleased for their hardworking team and we couldn’t be prouder of the achievement of Gnaw Chocolate. We hope you’ll join us in sending congratulations to them, and to all our finalists for flying the flag for Norfolk.
On congratulating Gnaw Chocolate, Chris Sargisson, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber said:
“Gnaw Chocolate is a fantastic example of what a small business can achieve. This award is a testament to their passion and quality. It’s great to see a Norfolk company blazing the trail, bringing locally sourced ingredients to a global customer base. Their success is well deserved.”
Facebook said:
“Congratulations to Gnaw Chocolate. It’s great to see a local business innovate with such passion and embrace technology to reach both its local and global audiences. A worthy winner and we wish them the best for the future.”
Two other Norfolk Regional Winners were also named runners up for the national awards. Larking Gowen for the Workplace Wellbeing Award and Liftshare for Employer of the Year.
To view all the national winners from the awards, click here.
In the run up to the Brexit leave date of 29 March 2019, the BBC are seeking small to medium sized firms that would be willing to speak to Radio 5 Live, and possibly also BBC Breakfast TV, about their concerns in the run up to the leave date, and also how their business has been affected by the Brexit and the changes in the economy since the leave vote thus far.
They are looking for businesses from across any sector of the economy but their preference is for smaller regional firms with under fifty employees.
It is crucial that the Norfolk business voice is heard and that the small business perspective is taken into account. If you would be willing to be interviewed, please send your contact details to:
On Thursday 8 March, eight Norfolk Chamber members went to London for the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) conference. Business writer Huw Sayer was among them and sent in this report.
The BCC annual conference might not be as glamorous as the BAFTAs but it is a major event in the UK’s business calendar. Delegates from across the UK and international Chambers gather to listen to politicians and business leaders debating the hot topics facing industry. The focus this year was on diversity, international trade and the future of work.
These three topics were particularly appropriate as:
The event coincided with International Women’s Day and came hard on the heels of numerous high profile sexual abuse scandals and pay equality disputes.
The EU had just set out its latest negotiating position on Brexit, including a possible future trading relationship with the UK.
The fourth industrial revolution, particularly the use of AI and robotics, seems to be accelerating exponentially and transforming the jobs market.
The less said about the four political set speeches the better. It’s understandable the BCC should invite politicians – but it’s a shame they each got 15 minutes to talk rather than just five. All we learnt was that some MPs seem to think repeating wishes loudly enough will make them come true.
Don’t lose sight of what matters to business
The non-political speeches however were incredibly interesting and the panel discussions were excellent. The BCC’s director general, Dr Adam Marshall, made a particularly impassioned call for all parties not to allow Brexit to distract them from the critical issues facing the country. In particular, he stressed the urgent need for greater investment in core infrastructure (road, rail, broadband and mobile) to improve productivity and drive innovation.
Help people embrace change
The morning session, chaired by Anna Edwards from Bloomberg Europe, looked at the future of work. A key challenge is how we give people the digital skills to cope with new technology. Sarah Howard MBE, one time president of the Suffolk Chamber and now VP at the BCC, called for better careers advice in schools – and more work experience opportunities. She said that many businesses were keen to support this – but schools need to do a better job of planning their involvement.
Uncertainty is here to stay
The first session of the afternoon, chaired by Bronwen Maddox from the Institute of Government, looked at the future of trade. Clearly, Brexit was always going to dominate – and, judging by the audience reaction, it divides the business community as much as it does the nation. That said, the panel (from across the political spectrum) tended to be pragmatic in their analysis. Miriam González, from the law firm Dechert, was particularly impressive in her grasp of detail. She observed that most businesses she spoke to were being realistic and treating Brexit as a damage limitation exercise.
Culture eats strategy – so get yours right
The theme of the final panel discussion, chaired by Sarah Gordon from the Financial Times, was diversity in business. It particularly looked at how to encourage more women to pursue STEM related careers. Samantha Payne, the co-founder of Open Bionics, made the important point that diversity is essential if you want to attract talented ‘millennials’.
In the main, young people want open and tolerant workplaces – and will judge potential employers as much by their company culture as the pay packet on offer. Funke Abimbola MBE, General Counsel at Roche UK’s pharmaceuticals division, stressed the need for greater transparency on pay and employment practices to create such a culture. While Fleur Sexton, MD of PET-Xi, emphasised the business value of diversity, not least in building more creative and productive teams.
A day well spent
Despite leaving home at 05:30 and not getting back until 20:30, this was a worthwhile trip. As well as listening to interesting people discuss important topics; I had the pleasure of meeting quite a few people from other Chambers (including a team from Suffolk). The four hours train travel wasn’t wasted either as it gave me the opportunity to get to know fellow Chamber board directors better.
As well as chatting about families, children and pets, we discussed some of the key challenges facing Norfolk businesses. Naturally, one of these was the state of the railways – notably the bottleneck created by the single track over Trowse Bridge. That is a topic for another day but your board is determined to unlock this long-term brake on the local economy.
Catch up on social media
If you want to see what other people thought about the BCC conference, just search for the hashtag #BCCConf on Twitter. Don’t forget to follow @NorfolkChamber for all your local business news
A Year 5 pupil Dragons’ Den competition saw Mile Cross pupils face real life business dragons in the Norwich School During the Michealmas term, Norwich School Business Enterprise department have had the great pleasure to work on their first partnership project with Mile Cross Primary School and City College Norwich in a Dragons’ Den competition.
60 year 5 pupils from Mile Cross and L6 Business Enterprise pupils joined forces at City College’s StartUp lounge for the first day of the event on 6th November. Teams of Year 5 pupils were assigned a L6 mentor and tasked with coming up with a business idea that would wow the dragons.
The project, jointly led by Nicola Hill (Assistant Head of Outreach) and Toby Whalen (Deputy Head at Mile Cross Primary), aimed to provide an engaging introduction into product design, marketing and finance. Ideas ranged from fitness parties to an automatic dog ball thrower, with pupils taking inspiration from their surroundings a the StartUp Lounge.
The project final took place this week at Norwich School, with high profile dragons from Norwich’s business community, including Stefan Gurney and Miles Watson from Norwich Business Improvement District and Nova Fairbank from the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. Mile Cross Head Teacher and Norwich School’s Steffan Griffiths also took on the role of dragons, with teams pitching their ideas to win an “investment”. The overall winning idea, “Zombie Bears” caught the imaginations of the dragons, with their sophisticated marketing and branding ideas and their captivating pitch.
Both the Year 5 pupils and the L6 Business Enterprise pupils gained much from the partnership, and plans are already in place for the next Dragons’ Den after the success of this inaugural event. Comments from our guests highlight the significance of the partnership:
Nova Fairbank, Head of Policy, Governance & Public Affairs, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce
“The students pitching at today’s Dragon’s Den have done an amazing job. Their presentations were well thought out; their business cases were solid; and all teams presented enthusiastic and interesting pitches. The Dragons had a truly difficult decision to select the winning bid. The talent and energy in the room was brilliant and I think we may have seen several future entrepreneurs! Well done to all the teams.”
Stefan Gurney, Executive Director, Norwich Business Improvement District (BID).
“It was truly inspiring to see the next generation of Norwich entrepreneurs pitching their innovative business ideas to us. All of the teams created products with originality, strong business models and presented with passion and energy. It was a difficult decision to choose a winning pitch, but a huge congratulations to every one of the students who worked so hard and gave us such a tough choice. Norwich’s future is in safe hands.”
Breckland Council’s Budget and the Medium Term Financial Plan provide the funding for delivery of the key priorities outlined in their Corporate Plan and the range of local services they can provide. They have invited comments from businesses and residents alike and would welcome your thoughts on their draft proposal
We have today received a CV (see attached) from Norwich City Council, for a candidate from our french twin city of Rouen, who is looking for a short-term work placement.
He is looking for a technician internship in the computing field, within the engineering sector.
If you have a possible gap and can offer him a role within your company, please contact:
Norwich City Council Andy Emms Democratic Services Manager Tel. 01603 212459 Email: andyemms@norwich.gov.uk