Chamber News

[View the story “Buzzing B2B 2015” on Storify]

The region’s premier business to business exhibition took place this year on 15 October at Carrow Road Football Stadium, Norwich.

Over the course of the day over 600 visitors came through the doors and networked with county’s very best businesses showcasing their products and services.

Both floors of the Norwich City Football Club were packed with 96 exhibitors divided into six different business zones to help visitors navigate their way through the busy exhibition.

The event was officially opened by Shaun Lowthorpe, Business Publishing Editor at Archant who spoke about the importance of visibility of Norfolk in the business world. After which he then took time to visit every stand to judge design, goodies and ‘wow factor’ before awarding Breckland Training Services ‘Best Stand’ award for their inventive murder mystery themed stand.

In addition to the exhibition, delegates also had the opportunity to attend 20 minute expert bitesize sessions providing expert advice and top tips across varied subject areas. Including Be Better at Creative Marketing with Carole Osborne, osbornenash; Be Better at Networking with Ian Hacon, Yellow Brick Road; Be Better at Pitching with Ermine Amies, Sandler Training and Be Better at LinkedIn with John Davy, Dojo Media Consulting. (Click the session titleto see the slides)

Visitors were able to download Loka, a proximity marketing app developed by Proxama, a Norwich based company and receive over 50 exhibitor offers including exclusive discounts, giveaways and competitions straight to their smartphone as they walked round the exhibition.

Overall there was a real buzz around the exhibition as well as on social media. There was plenty to see and do, from apple bobbing with Plain Speaking PR, meeting Pebbles the owl and Hazel the eagle at NBC Bird and Pest Solutions, listening to a talented Jazz Singer with Out of Office Events, and to being amazed a magician performing tricks with fire on Farnell Clarke stand.

This year’s event was sponsored by osbornenash Farnell Clarke, Computer Service Centre, Comms Supply, Archant, Creative Sponge, Norfolk Training Services (NTS) and Holiday Inn Norwich North.

View photos from the event onFacebook.

View the presentations from the Chamber Session on SlideShare.

Don’t forget to put a date in your diary for next year’s B2B Exhibition on Thursday 13 October 2016.

Follow @NorfolkB2B on Twitter to stay up-to-date with news and updates for our next B2B Exhibition.

The region’s premier business to business event took place this year on 15 October at Carrow Road Football Stadium,…

Posted by Norfolk Chamber of Commerce and Industry onMonday, October 19, 2015

Most businesses need a skilled workforce to help them drive towards successful future growth and productivity. Ask any employer what they are looking for when recruiting staff, one of the key things that they will all say is ‘the right skills and attitude’. This becomes even more important when applied to young people.

The recent British Chambers Education and Business Survey outlined that a huge majority of business, school and college leaders want the Government to recognise the importance of pre-16 work experience. Marcus Mason, Head of Business, Education and Skill at the British Chambers of Commerce highlights some of the key results from the survey in his blog.

Also commenting on the BCC survey, Caroline Williams, Chief Executive of Norfolk Chamber said:

“The message from this survey is clear, both education and business feel that work experience is beneficial to our young people. However I feel here in Norfolk, due to the close relationship we have between schools and businesses that we can provide experience of work differently and more effectively.”

“The demands of the new curriculum on schools makes it challenging for students to be released from school, so in addition to offering work experience, businesses need to spend more time in schools alongside teachers making the curriculum subjects relevant to the world of work. It would also enable businesses to bring to life what great opportunities there are here in Norfolk.”

Norfolk Chamber is working towards bridging the gap between education and business, and will deliver a unique event on Friday 20 November which allows the Norfolk education sector have their say with the local business community. Click here for more details of the ‘An Audience with…Norfolk Schools’.

Unexpectedly wet weather since Wednesday prevented the opening of the new bridge over the A47 at Postwick last night (Thurs-Fri).

Surfacing the new bridge was halted by persistent and sometimes heavy rain on Wednesday. The asphalt surface will not bind to the base layers if they are wet. It had been hoped to catch up yesterday (Thurs 15 Oct), but this was not possible and last night it was decided that it would not be safe to open the new bridge as planned this morning (Fri).

Instead, the old bridge across the A47 was kept open as the route towards Broadland Business Park, Thorpe St Andrew and east Norwich for traffic from the Acle and Great Yarmouth direction, and as the route to Postwick village.

Work on the new bridge will resume as soon as the weather allows. The aim is to open the new bridge, and close the old, overnight tonight (Fri) if possible. Traffic would then start using the new bridge tomorrow morning (Sat). Thiswill only happen if it is safe to do so.

Drivers are asked to pay particular attention to direction signs through the junction during this change-over phase. Norfolk County Council is sorry for last night’s late change of plan, which was for reasons beyond our control and in the interests of road safety.

Further information on the Postwick junction, including the new temporary traffic flows, the safety reasons for the junction layout and final routes for traffic,is available on Norfolk County Council’s website: www.norfolk.gov.uk.

Norfolk Chamber of Commerce attended Norfolk Constabulary’s eighth annual Norfolk Safer Community Awards (NOSCAs) last night.

As part of the Chamber’s partnership working with the Constabulary, it sponsors the Chief Constable’s Special Recognition Award. This year there were two sets of deserved winners for this award: Tony and Chris Callaghan, who survived the Tunisia shootings; and Detective Constable Sarah Mortimer and Police Constable Neil Smith, who had both supported the Witheridge family from Hemsby, following the murder of their daughter, Hannah in Thailand last year.

Nova Fairbank from Norfolk Chamber said: “Norfolk Chamber is proud to support these awards. All the winners and nominees should be congratulated for the contributions they have made and their continual efforts in ensuring Norfolk is a safe place to live and work.”

Norfolk County Council today (Fri) announced immediate changes to its Postwick works programme to reduce peak-hour pressure on the local road network.

There were significant delays at the Peachman Way/Broadland Way roundabout this morning (Friday 16 October). Norfolk County Council apologises to all those whose journeys were disrupted.

The opening of the new slip road this morning sent traffic around the Postwick Hub access roads. However, the balance of traffic flows at the Peachman Way roundabout was worse than expected and the County Council is therefore taking the following steps:

• Putting traffic control on the Peachman Way/Broadland Way roundabout for the morning as well as the evening peak. This will be manually controlled to be as responsive as possible to traffic build-up.

• Putting signs up at the Plumstead Road/Green Lane junction to warn of potential delays at the Peachman Way/Broadland Way roundabout.

• Changing the planned works programme to now keep the old bridge open during peak hours.

The old bridge had been scheduled for a full closure for up to eight weeks for essential maintenance and upgrading. It will now remain open for use even when the new bridge is open tomorrow morning, (Sat 17 Oct). Keeping the old bridge open will allow traffic from the Great Yarmouth direction to avoid the Postwick Hub access roads and will help to relieve any additional pressure on the Peachman Way roundabout at peak times.

Having both bridges open will also give greater flexibility within the junction, and Norfolk County Council will continue to monitor traffic flows and take further steps to reduce delays if necessary. The maintenance and upgrading work on the old bridge will be carried out under more limited traffic management with off-peak lane closures. Any fullclosures – for resurfacing for example – will take place overnight.

The A47 will be closed at Postwick again tonight (Friday), but the diversion routes will be short, using the junction slip roads.

Motorists are reminded that an overnight closure of the A47 at Postwick on Thursday night, 15 October, will herald changes to temporary traffic flows as the major improvement of the Postwick junction moves into its final phases.

The Thursday night closure of the A47 is to allow traffic to be switched from the old slip road, taking eastbound traffic off the A47, to a newly-constructed slip road.

This change is necessary for the safety of traffic on the A47.

The old slip road is too short, and is being closed and replaced because it cannot be extended. With significant housing and business park development already planned for the area, therewould have beena significant andgrowing risk of traffic queuing back down the slip road on to the 70mph dual carriageway.

The other major change on Thursday night is the closure of the original bridge over the A47 for essential maintenance and upgrading. Traffic will instead use the new bridge for the first time.

These temporary arrangements, which will be for around five weeks, will put pressure on the new access roads and junctions.Temporary traffic lights will be used at the Broadland Way/Peachman Way roundabout.

The changes will be made overnight on Thursday and will come into effect on Friday 16 October. An overnight A47 closure (8pm to no later than 6am)will be necessary. Westbound traffic will have a short diversion up and down the junction slip roads, but for eastbound traffic the A47 will be closed at Trowse, with traffic diverted via the A146, A143 and A12, returning to the A47 at Vauxhall roundabout, Great Yarmouth.

There will be a further closure of the A47 on Friday night (8pm to no later than 6am), when traffic from both directions will be diverted via the junction slip roads.

Norfolk County Council apologises for the delays and inconvenience caused by these closures and the temporary traffic arrangements. Work on the junction remains on course for completion before Christmas.

Further information is available on Norfolk County Council’s website (www.norfolk.gov.uk), including traffic flow plans and a more detailed explanation of the scheme and the reasons for the junction layout.

The latest Norwich Economic Barometer has been published. It highlighted that the Government posted its first budget surplus in July and income from tax receipts grew by 5.3% according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The continued strength of the consumer goods sector was offset by a sluggish UK manufacturing sector, which confirmed inthe latest Chamber Quarterly Economic Survey.

The UK domestic market remained the main source of new order growth, as the level of export business decreased. Companies are linking reduced overseas demand to several factors including: the sterling exchange rate; weak sales performance; the Euro Zone; and the slowdown in China.

According to the ONS there has been a 6% rise in the use of zero-hours contracts, although the ONS has said this is “not statistically significant”.

August showed that Britain’s retailers recorded the worst slump in sales since November 2008. Retailers across all sectors from lifestyle and fashion to homewares all recorded lower sales than the previous year.

For full details of the latest Barometer click here.

A huge majority of business, school and college leaders want ministers to recognise the importance of pre-16 work experience, according to a new surveypublished today (Wednesday) by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

The survey of over 3,500 business bosses and education leaders found that 82% of business respondents, and 73% of respondents from schools, colleges and universities believe secondary schools should offer work experience for pupils aged under 16.

Work experience is not offered universally across the UK and in England, in particular, it has been deprioritised.* However, the survey found that 79% of employers think work experience is the most important activity to equip young people with workplace skills, followed by paid part-time work (69%) and volunteering (55%).

While the majority of businesses offer some form of work experience, a third of businesses (36%) offer no work experience of any kind. Micro and small businesses, in particular, need greater support to offer work experience.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said:

“The message from this survey is clear, both education and business feel that work experience is beneficial to our young people.

“However I feel here in Norfolk due to the close relationship we have between schools and businesses that we can provide experience of work differently and more effectively.”

“The new curriculum demands on schools make it challenging for students to be released from school so in addition to offering work experience, businesses need to spend more time in schools alongside teachers making the curriculum subjects relevant to the world of work. It would also enable businesses to bring to life what great opportunities there are here in Norfolk.”

Further findings from the survey:

Businesses should prioritise delivery of work experience.

• 50% of firms identified work experience as the top priority activity for businesses to offer young people, over business mentoring (15%), part-time paid work (14%) enterprise activities (9%), volunteering (6%), and other (6%).
• 48% of educational establishments identified work experience as the top priority activity for businesses to offer young people, over enterprise activities (18%), mentoring (13%), volunteering (7%), part-time paid work (6%) and other (8%).

There’s no single ideal work experience model – businesses that offer work experience value a variety of models.

• 66% of firms offer one to two week term-time work experience placements, 47% offer work placements during school holidays, 30% offer flexible work placements and 27% arrange visits to their businesses for groups of pupils.

Two-thirds of businesses offer work experience of some form. Those that don’t say that they need more support and encouragement to offer work experience.

• 36% of businesses offer no work experience of any kind.
• Firms that don’t currently offer work experience would be encouraged to do so by having more information about what is required (36%), someone to facilitate the relationship with the school (33%) and clarity on the benefits to their business (19%).
• Micro, small and medium sized businesses are less likely than larger firms to offer work experience. 59% of micro businesses (0-9 staff) offer no type of work experience at all, compared to 29% of small (10-49), 16% of medium (50-249) and 12% of large firms (250+).

Commenting, John Longworth, Director General of the BCC said:

“Business and school leaders are clear: we won’t bridge the gap between the world of education and the world of work unless young people spend time in workplaces while still at school.

“It was careless of Government to end compulsory work experience in 2012, but it is not too late to correct the mistake – and work with companies and schools to ensure that every school pupil has the chance to feel the energy, dynamism, buzz and challenge of the workplace for themselves.”

“Work experience is crucial to bringing down our stubbornly high youth unemployment rate. It will help ensure more young people are prepared for work. It will help close the yawning skills gaps reported by frustrated businesses across the UK, who face huge difficulty filling vacancies at every level.”

“The Government must act to bring compulsory work experience for under 16s back in England. Devolved administrations must ensure that it is available to all in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We pledge to work with governments in all four nations to ensure that more and more businesses then engage with schools, offer work placements to young people, and help the next generation get the start that they deserve.”

The UK does very little business with countries in South East Asia, currently trading more with Belgium than with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam combined.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid will be hoping to correct this imbalance when he speaks at the UK-ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Dialogue conference being held on 13 October at Asia House in London.

ASEAN is attracting global attention, with Prime Minister David Cameron having paid a recent visit to South East Asia, where he was accompanied by Mr Javid. With a population of over 600 million, a growing middle class and a combined GDP of about US$2.4 trillion, ASEAN is already a dynamic and exciting market for the global business community and is set to be a long-term driver of global economic growth.

The UK-ASEAN Dialogue will explore the challenges and opportunities in the region, looking specifically at the political climate, infrastructure development and financial services.

Other confirmed speakers at the conference include Lord Mandelson, Chairman and Partner, Global Counsel LLP; Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia; and David Sayer, Chairman – High Growth Markets, KPMG.

The conference will be followed in the evening by Asia House‘s annual gala event – the Asian Business Leaders Awards – that is to be held at The Banqueting House, Whitehall.

On Friday 9th October over 100 delegates joined the Norfolk Chamber for a morning of economics, networking and a delicious breakfast at Dunston Hall, Norwich. With the opportunity to hear from two leading experts, Lindsey Rix, Chief Operating Officer for Aviva UK and Antony Jackson, Lecturer of Financial Economics at the University of East Anglia.

The morning was hosted by the event sponsors Steeles Law who took delegates through a busy morning of icebreakers and networking. They started with an economy themed activity which got people talking and networking with others on their tables created a great atmosphere in the room. The talking and networking carried straight on through breakfast and into safari networking where all the delegates got re-seated and had the opportunity to meet a whole new table of contacts.

After this it was then onto the main part of the morning to hear from our two key note speakers; Antony Jackson spoke first about the challenges of the global Economy and explained how to best use Risk Parity portfolios. Lindsey Rix then spoke about the era of digitalisation and how we can create growth in our businesses to benefit our economy using both innovation and digitalisation.

The breakfast then finished with a Q&A session where delegates got the chance to get some of their questions and concerns answered by the experts.

To view our slides from the breakfast click here

To view the photo gallery please click here

Our next Norwich breakfast is on Thursday 10th December at Sprowston Manor from 07:30 – 09:30, please click here for full event details

Now in its 5thyear, thelargest and most senior gathering of Kurdistan-Iraq’s oil & gas industryis returning toLondon! The event,held under the high patronage of Kurdistan’s Ministry of Natural Resources, remains the one place where you will hear from the most well-known personalities of the global oil & gas industry, and also constitutesthe meeting place of choice for thought leadersdiscussing crucial issues of paramount importance for bothexisting operators and future investors in the Region.

Following the huge success from 2014, theExhibitionis also featured in this year’s programme, giving you the opportunity toshowcase and see the latest cutting edge technology, and to hear from leading providersfor upstream, midstream, power and downstream.

Click here for more information.