Chamber News

Norfolk Chamber is urging Norfolk and Suffolk’s successful women from every sector to show their support for women in business by celebrating their achievements at one of the country’s longest running awards ceremonies.

Now in their 33rd year, the annual Women of the Year Awards highlight and celebrate women’s successes in business and society, promoting role models and inspiring women to reach their potential.

Now, with nominations for the Businesswoman of the Year still open, the event’s supporters are urging Britain’s leading female executives and entrepreneurs to encourage others by putting themselves forward or nominating colleagues whose achievements deserve greater notice.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said: “As we work to inspire our young people it is more important than ever that our women leaders and their achievements are more visible.

“If you are a business leader, who happens to be a woman with a story to tell or work with somebody that answers that description, we urge you to step forward and be seen. All it requires is an email.”

Apprentice star Karren Brady, a former winner, also lent her voice to the call: “The Woman of the Year awards are an important opportunity to celebrate the many examples of women who are wonderful business role-models. It is critical that women in senior positions who are creating and leading businesses are recognised – not only for their own efforts and achievements but also to inspire future generations.

“The only way more women are going to be in the boardrooms of the future are if there are a wide range of role-models now who lead by example. Awards like Woman of the Year provide a perfect showcase and as a former winner myself, I can testify personally the positive experience it provides. I would urge women to put themselves forward and enter this year’s awards.”

The event has earned the support of a wide range of business organisations including the Engineering Employers Federation and the Royal Aeronautical Society, and participation can have a hugely positive impact on both the nominees’ business profiles and their bottom line.

“On a very practical level, there’s no doubt that even being nominated for an award can contribute directly to your bottom line. It boosts your business profile as a whole and lends credibility, attracting new opportunities within a wider market,” says 2011 Businesswoman of the Year winner Julie White, Managing Director of D-Drill.

“I was initially reluctant to put myself forward, but winning has had a huge impact and since then I’ve received a lot of media attention, appearing on a range of shows from the Daily Politics to Question Time. It’s taken me to places I thought I’d never see, and has given me a platform to both raise the profile of my industry and discuss the issues affecting it.”

To lodge a nomination for the Businesswoman of the Year Award, email Award Chair Judy Groves, at Judy@rigbygroupplc.com Full details https://womenoftheyear.org.uk/img/wotynomform.pdf

Closing date for nominations is September 11, 2015.

The 2015 winner will be announced exclusively at the Women of the Year Luncheon and Awards ceremony on Friday, October 9 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole near the NEC. The Women of the Year Luncheon and Awards attracts several hundred high-profile guests which have in the past included Lord Digby Jones, Dragon’s Den panelist Hilary Devey, and guest speaker Britain’s double Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes MBE.

There will be plenty of time to network at the 33rd successive year of the eagerly-anticipated awards when funds will once again be raised for two official charities and there will also be an opportunity to shop in a select number of boutique stores. All finalists will be invited to attend the Luncheon and Awards as the guests of the Awards Chair.

To buy tickets for the luncheon event, visit: www.womenoftheyearawards.org.uk.

The Supported Charities

Tomorrow’s People

Tomorrow’s People is dedicated to helping disadvantaged adults and young people find and retain employment, with a focus on improving the long-term work prospects of those who face the greatest barriers to work. The charity’s vision is to break the cycle of unemployment and dependency in deprived communities throughout the UK, transforming lives by ‘re-skilling’ the long-term unemployed.

Revitalise

Revitalise is a national charity providing essential services for the disabled, visually impaired and their carers. The charity runs three centres nationwide, offering short-breaks with 24-hour care and personal support in relaxed surroundings.

Andrew Wright, CEO of UK Colombia Trade, will visit the United Kingdom along with the President of Colombia’s National Hydrocarbons Agency and the President of the Colombian Oil Association the week of 7-11th September 2015 to build bilateral ties and strengthen the supply chain relationship with Colombian companies to develop the budding offshore industry.

British companies have historically played a significant role in the development of Colombia’s oil and gas industry and in the light of recent offshore finds, there exists another opportunity for the UK to support Colombia in the development of a new, dynamic offshore market to complement falling onshore reserves. In the 1980s, BP developed the prolific Coveñas field and today Shell holds a large acreage of offshore blocks. UK Colombia Trade aims to promote and assist not only Operators, but also the entrance of British service and supply chain firms into the Colombian hydrocarbons market, particularly in the area of offshore and subsea services including seismic, environmental studies, HSEQ, subsea, FEED and workover.

Looking towards the future, the Colombian Caribbean represents an opportunity to create new jobs, technical training and to establish a hub for oil & gas services providing knowledge and expertise to other emerging countries in the region.

Andrew Wright, CEO of UK Colombia Trade comments: “The Orca-1 discovery opened our minds about the realistic size of opportunity for specialist UK firms in Offshore exploration and services, but with the latest Kronos find it is now clear that Colombia could host the next Latin America Offshore boom and should be on the radar of British companies already looking at Brazil and Mexico. Colombia is currently ranked by the World Bank as Number 1 in terms of Ease of Doing Business in Latin America, so we encourage British companies to take advantage of this exciting development.”

The Colombian delegation will attend a Colombia Export Showcase event at the Energy Industry Council premises on Monday 7th, followed by an active commercial and technical agenda at Offshore Europe 2015 in Aberdeen from 8th-11th September. This visit follows a delegation of British companies that already visited Colombia as part of an Energy Industry Council trade delegation to build commercial ties with Colombia and UK Colombia Trade will be hosting a further visit of UK firms to Colombia in October 2015, led by the trade body NOF Energy.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said: “Our links with the Chamber Global Network gives real competitive advantage to business who want to start or increase their businesses overseas. If Columbia is of interest to you please do contact Julie Austin julie.austin@norfolkchamber.co.uk our Norfolk Chamber International Trade Manager”

The British Chambers of Commerce Quarterly Economic Survey (QES) is used by the Bank of England and the Chancellor to plan the future of the UK economy and over 7,000 businesses across the UK take part.

The Q2 2015 results for Norfolk pointed to continued moderate growth in the local economy over the next year. It was encouraging to see that several of Norfolk balances positively ‘bucked’ the national trend, with some results being stronger than the national balances, compared to the last quarter. However concerns over the EU and the possibility of Grexit are still causing some uncertainty within the business community and the impact of the reduced oil prices are being felt locally.

The previousQ2 QES results identified that the majority of Norfolk businesses continue to remain positive. Both the service and manufacturing sector continued to strengthen their exports, but there were some concerns about investment in plant, machinery and training and also recruitment difficulties, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

Are you more confident about your business? Have you had difficulty in recruiting new staff or have your got plans to invest in plant, machinery and training? Let us know by taking part in this important economic survey.

The survey takes less than 3 minutes to complete, so please take the time to input into this survey to ensure Norfolk has a voice. The survey needs to be completed online by Monday 14 September 2015.

Complete the Online Survey now.

On Thursday 20th August over 50 delegates joined us for an evening of fun, fashion and of course plenty of networking! This year we were back at Jarrold and had an exclusive sneak peek to their newly refurbished fashion floor.

The evening started with talk on the development of the fashion floor before delegates were rounded into groups to start the networking activity: The Outfit Challenge. Our delegates were sent off around the fashion floor with a budget of £250 and were set the challenge of finding the most ‘on-trend’ outfit. Throughout the activity there were tough decisions; especially in the shoe department; but all delegates returned with an in budget outfit ready for judging.

Jarrold’s personal stylist Lucy Hurrel was on hand to judge the outfits. A delegate from each team was sent up to present the outfits to Lucy and explain their choices. One delegate in particular, Trevor Saunders of Grosvenor Casino, gave an impressive presentation of his group’s outfit named ‘a day at the races’, and even used his 20% off voucher to keep his outfit in budget!

Following the networking activity delegates had time to relax with a beauty demonstration from Jarrold’s expert make-up artist who demonstrated several different make-up brands for delegates to indulge in. Up next came the fashion show with rounds of casual, smart-casual and special occasion wear all modelled by Jarrold staff.

The evening was closed with a raffle prize draw an exclusive hour for delegates to shop around the new fashion floor with a selection of vouchers given to them from Jarrold. All delegates left with a big smile on their face, and several left with a new piece for their wardrobe!

View more photos from the event on our Facebook Page.

Road users are advised that the A47 at Easton in Norfolk will be closed for overnight on Monday 24 August for essential surface repairs.

Work will take place between 8pm and 6am to carry out carriageway repairs on the Easton roundabout.

To allow traffic to be diverted on suitable roads during the work, the A47 will be closed between Swaffham and Longwater. A diversion will be clearly signposted via the A11, A134 and A1065 for westbound traffic, and via the A1065, A148, A1067 and A1074 for eastbound traffic. Access to local properties will be maintained at all times.

Highways England Project Manager Andrew Dyer said:

“Carrying out this work now will ensure smoother journeys for road users along the A47 in Norfolk.

“We have worked closely with Norfolk County Council to agree diversions and have planned this work at night to minimise disruption to road users.”

Motorists affected by this work are advised to plan ahead and allow extra time for travel.

Commenting on the Government’s latest announcement on apprenticeships, Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said:

“It is right that the Government is seeking to engage businesses and consult on the introduction of an apprenticeship levy to make sure this policy is properly thought-through.

“Apprenticeship schemes can play a part in meeting important ambitions to boost skills and drive-up productivity. But for apprenticeships to take hold and become established, the focus should be on quality – not hitting an arbitrary figure. The conveyor belt model is not what business wants to see.

“If the quality is there, the demand, from employers and potential apprentices, will follow.

“Our research shows that greater engagement with smaller businesses is needed to increase apprenticeship take-up. Government policy is currently too focused on major employers, but equal effort ought to be put on encouraging and supporting smaller businesses to offer apprenticeships.”

John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, was in Norwich this week to meet with the Norfolk Chamber team and have a lively debate with the Norfolk Chamber Board members.

Mr Longworth complimented Norfolk Chamber on its increase in members over the past twelve months and the work it is doing to support the British Chamber of Commerce’s key manifesto pledges. These included ‘Bridging the Gap between Education and Work’ ‘Promoting International Trade’ and ‘Reaching out to the Wider Business Community.’

John Longworth, a regular contributor to national media channels, gave his opinion on topics such as the EU, access to finance, alternative funding for infrastructure projects and the skills gap. Following his round table discussion at the Norfolk Chamber office, Mr Longworth was taken to meet Neil Garner, CEO of Proxama, and whilst visiting White Space had the opportunity to talk with James Dues, Chairman of Rainbird.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said: “Introducing John to what Norfolk has to offer is part of our campaign to make Norfolk’s vibrant business community more visible. He was very impressed with what he heard and saw relating to the Norwich digital creative sector and left with a much clearer picture of what Norfolk and Norwich has to offer.”

Both Neil Garner, Proxama, and James Duez, Rainbird, are keynote speakers at the Norfolk Chamber’s forum event: THE FUTURE IS HERE Putting Technology to work in Norwich on 23 September.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber once again had the ear of the Prime Minister David Cameron when he visited Norfolk today. The round table meeting was set up by Chloe Smith MP, whilst he was visiting KLM to hear about their apprenticeship academy, on the day he launched the Government’s consultation on the apprenticeship levy.

Mr Cameron was interested to hear about the successful development of Norwich4Jobs . This initiative works with Norwich businesses to assist in meeting its target of cutting Norwich youth unemployment by 50% and is now working on Phase 2. Norfolk Chamber sits on the steering group, chaired by Chloe Smith MP with many Chamber members involved in giving Norfolk’s young people employment.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said: “It was a great opportunity to be able to speak directly to the Prime Minister on issues relating to Norfolk’s young people that we feel so passionate about, including bridging the gap between education and business.”

“I was able to highlight the need to ensure that whilst meeting increased numbers of apprenticeships, quality is maintained. In addition there is a need for the reputation of apprenticeships to be increased within schools and amongst parents, as well as businesses.”

“Another topic that I discussed with Mr Cameron, was the need to provide within schools the link of core GCSE curriculum subjects, such as Maths, English and Science to the world of work so that our young people can really understand why they are so important, which he agreed with.”

Other topicsdiscussed, were the proposed New Anglia Youth Pledge and the work being carried out by JobcentrePlus to support those Norfolkyoung people who find the job market particularly challenging.

Caroline Williams CEO added: “Norfolk Chamber and its members are determined to ensure that our young people are given the very best opportunity to develop into the quality employees of the future we all want to achieve.”

It looks as if the funding gap which had been identified to get the NDR built is the the process of being resolved

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said “The NDR will bring significant economic benefits to Norwich and Norfolk and the news that a £30m funding gap is close to being closed is good news for local businesses

The increase of cost from £148.5m to £178m it is said was due to construction cost inflation and design changes

The council had hoped the Department for Transport would contribute £15m to plug the gap, while councillors were next month due to be asked, at an extraordinary meeting, to agree to match that with £15m from the authority’s transport budget.

However, a deal has been tentatively forged which would close the funding gap. The government has told the county council it is prepared to contribute £10m, the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) will consider putting up £10m, which would leave the council to find the final £10m.

The government has already pledged a £67.5m contribution, for the section from Postwick on the A47 to the A140 at Norwich International Airport. It has also given £19m for the Postwick Hub element of the project – with work well underway.

George Nobbs, leader of Norfolk County Council, said: “During the last few years, I have had many reasons to complain about the government, but I have no complaints today.

“If this deal does go ahead, then this will be a generous and far-sighted gesture by the Department for Transport and the Local Enterprise Partnership, of which I am a board member.

“The possible three way split between the council, the government and the LEP would be a model of co-operation for the benefit of all the people of Norfolk.”

Mark Pendlington, chairman of New Anglia LEP said: “This road will deliver more than £1bn in economic benefit for Norwich and the wider economy. It is critical in delivering thousands of jobs, new homes and driving the economic growth we need across our region. We have been talking to the Government and Norfolk County Council to see how we can support the additional funding needed to make sure it happens. As a result I will be asking our full board to commit £10m from the LEP’s future Growth Deal funding, when we next meet in early September.”

The council has said initial work on the road, which was given government permission in June, will start in October, with full blown construction work set to start in February or March next year, to be completed in 2017.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “DFT has considered Norfolk’s request for additional funding to help cover the cost increase and subject to assessing a final business case an additional £10m has been offered on an exceptional basis given the importance of the scheme to growth in the Norwich area.”

Full a full update details on the NDR click here

Norfolk is celebrating another week ofpositive exam results with today’s GCSEs suggesting gains on last year’s results of more than two percentage points.

Of the 8,300 students who sat their GCSEs in Norfolk this summer, early results suggest that 54.8% of students achieved the gold standard of five A* to C grades, including English and maths – a provisional improvement of 2.1 percentage points on last year.

Today’s achievement follows on from record provisional A Level results last week and a significant two-year improvement in the proportion of schools in Norfolk judged to be good or outstanding by Ofsted. Twenty-two thousand more students now attend good or outstanding schools, compared with 2013.

Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber “We congratulate all our young people who have received their results today, those staying in full time education and those entering the world of work with training. Norfolk can provide enormous opportunities to our young people and they are the workforce of the future who will help us, over the coming years, drive the economy forward”

James Joyce, Chairman of the Children’s Services Committee at Norfolk County Council, said: “I would again like to congratulate the county’s teenagers and their teachers today, for the significant work that has gone into achieving these results.

“Brian Conway, Chair of Norfolk Secondary Education Leaders (NSEL), said: “On behalf of NSEL I would like to congratulate the young people and schools across Norfolk for their hard work and successes in these GCSE examinations. “The improvement of more than two percentage points achieving the gold standard is testament to collective hard work and the drive across Norfolk to improve outcomes”.

New research from BT, conducted jointly with the British Chambers of Commerce shows large numbers of small to medium-sized enterprises have invested in technologies that boost mobile working.

It is therefore more important than ever that Norfolk businesses are able to compete on a level playing field with the introduction of better broadband speeds and mobile signals across the county.

The study, based on interviews with more than 300 directors of smaller businesses, suggests the UK’s SME sector is embracing mobility more enthusiastically than ever before – and enjoying benefits such as improved productivity as a result.

More than nine in 10 of the businesses in the study say they now have at least one member of staff who works from home, either full-time or on a part-time basis, while almost a fifth of businesses said that more than half of their workforce is now working away from their main office location.

To facilitate this shift, many companies have implemented new technologies. Most significantly, the use of cloud computing by small businesses is up by 15 per cent compared to a year ago, BT said. Its research suggests 69 per cent of small companies are now using cloud computing platforms of one kind or another – more than half of these businesses say the cloud has proved critical to their ability to offer flexible and remote working.

However, many businesses are also turning to other technologies as well as cloud computing. Remote access to company data, wi-fi access when out of the office and fibre-optic broadband are all increasingly critical for businesses that promote remote working, the study shows. Wi-fi access, cited by 64 per cent of businesses, and remote access to data, cited by 56 per cent are particularly important, but 33 per cent also said fibre-optic broadband was a must.

More than two-thirds of the companies in the study said smartphone technology had generated more impact than any other innovation on their business over the past 12 months.

Many of the directors interviewed said their businesses were enjoying significant benefits from internet connectivity and mobile working. More than three-quarters pointed to the increase in the speed of communication their companies were now enjoying, while two-thirds said it connectivity had helped to improve customer service.

Dr Adam Marshall, executive director of policy and external affairs at the BCC, said investment in technology would also help the UK’s small businesses to compete on the international stage.

“Cloud and mobile technologies are becoming increasingly important as firms expand into new markets and explore new ways of working – especially overseas,” Dr Marshall said. “It is encouraging to see that so many British firms are adapting their working practices to take advantage of these developments.”

Danny Longbottom, the managing director of UK SME at BT Business, said the increased use of mobile technologies were at the heart of the “dramatic changes we are seeing within the UK SME market”.

From turning up to the office in flip-flops, to struggling to make eye contact with co-workers or quitting after their first day, today’s students often lack the personal skills, awareness and basic self-discipline that is essential in the workplace, John Longworth director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has said.

John Longworth called on schools and colleges to shift their focus from good grades to the broader issue of “employability”. British businesses currently have 735,000 job vacancies, he said, and the biggest barrier to filling them was “matching skills with vacancies”.

“Employers will often say that students at all levels – school, college and university level – haven’t really got the essential elements that business is looking for,” said Mr Longworth. He said BCC members had a great deal of “anecdotal evidence” that students were often ill-prepared for work, and cited resilience, communication skills – “so they can communicate in the workplace and with customers” – and motivation as some of the skills often lacking in new employees.

“It’s about developing coaching skills in schools, and working with employers so people can experience and understand what the world of work requires of them from a very early age,” Mr Longworth said.

Some institutions did a better job than others at preparing students for working life, and most employers recognise that new workers “don’t come in as the finished product”, said Mr Longworth. But in general, the education establishment was “driven to focus on grades and academic ability” rather than producing rounded people with the skills required to thrive in employment at work.

The BCC wants to change the focus on grades by encouraging the government to assess schools and colleges in terms of employment outcomes. It could do so by using data from the HMRC to establish how many students from any educational institution have entered the workforce are in work. Some personal skills – an outgoing personality, for example – are prizes won in the genetic lottery. But while “you can’t change who you are, you can change behaviour”, said Mr Longworth. Teaching workplace skills in schools and colleges wouldn’t necessarily resemble conventional management training. Disciplines such as sport and drama were important in terms of for building could build confidence and the ability to work as part of a team.

Young people need to realise that university is only one path to a good job, said Mr Longworth, “There are different talent pools and a variety of routes by which young people can succeed in life, such as apprenticeships and simply training at work.”