Chamber News

On a beautifully sunny July morning, over 90 delegates enjoyed our sold out business breakfast at Sprowston Manor, where they learnt how Norwich International Airport and KLM are helping to drive Norwich’s economic development.

We heard from our featured charity RNLI and as well as our sponsors Low Carbon KEEP and Ashton KCJ. Delegates tried out a new networking icebreaker, First Letter Last Letter, to get them thinking and finding creative ways to describe their business in just a few words. Delegates also got to meet a new table of people with our Safari Network.

It was then time to hear from out 2 keynote speakers; Andrew Bell, Chief Executive at Norwich International Airport and Melissa Hartal, Field Sales Manager at Air France KLM.

Andrew explained how Norwich airport impacts the local economy by saying ‘it facilitates, it connects, it connects your businesses.’ He discussed future plans for the 100 acre Norwich Aeropark which is to be built by 2016 and will create 1,500 skilled jobs worth £90m. He said ‘Our role is to look at what the business community wants’ with two core objectives ‘Maximise the productivity of the Airfield’ and ‘Support the region’s businesses and therefore economic growth’

Melissa Hartal started her presentation with a short video showing the journey of Air France KLM and how technology has developed to help them give great customer service. She then talked about how they consider Norwich their home port and the huge network of destination that fly from Norwich Airport, she said ‘A flight leaves the UK every 5 minutes, we are well connected’

Here’s what delegates thought of the event;

Matthew Downing from Ashton KCJ tweeted “Excellent breakfast this morning @norfolkchamber which we @AshtonKCJ sponsored great speakers @KLM and @NorwichAirport”

Peter Treglow from Four tweeted “Fascinating to hear about how @NorwichAirport supports Norfolk economy @norfolkchamber Exciting growth plans.”

To view more photos of the event, visit ourFacebookpage orGoogle+page

The next Norwich Breakfast is on 10 October at Dunston Hall. For more details or to book your placeclick here

As part of the Norfolk Chamber’s theme for 2014, ‘Look at Norfolk, See Success’, we are assisting the EDP in West Norfolk to collate positive news stories about thriving businesses in West Norfolk and need West Norfolk Chamber members’ help to provide the best news stories.

The EDP will shortly be commencing a weekly business supplement for West Norfolk based businesses and will be looking to launch the first edition of the supplement within the next few weeks.

They are looking for news stories involving local West Norfolk businesses, particularly positive ones highlighting businesses who are looking to expand and grow; who have new orders or new contracts; who are recruiting new staff; or are launching new products. They will also be looking to feature business events, such as networking breakfasts, lunches or dinners, and any community based projects, with business involvement etc.

The business supplement will be issued each Wednesday and articles must be submitted no later than the Friday beforehand to be included.

How do I submit my article?

• The article should be no more than 300 to 400 words (the editor may contact you if he needs more detail).
• Where possible, a photo should accompany your article. It should be submitted as a high resolution JPEG (of at least 1MB in file size).
• Any articles should be sent to the following email address: chris.bishop@archant.co.uk, with a copy to natalie.copeland@archant.co.uk.

Not sure your story is newsworthy?

If you are not sure whether your news story would be considered, you could email an outline to the above email addresses, and should it be of interest, the EDP will call you back to follow it up (don’t forget to include your contact details).

Want maximum coverage?

For maximum coverage, as well as sending your news article for inclusion in the EDP business supplement, you can also upload news articles and events to the Chamber website. We will then use our social media channels to highlight your news and raise your profile still further.

In an effort to improve SME access to public procurement contracts, the Government has now launched a new Mystery Shopper Scheme.

The Mystery Shopper Scheme has 2 roles:

1. It provides a clear, structured and direct route for suppliers to raise concerns about public procurement practice even when attempts at resolving issues with a contracting authority or a first-tier supplier have failed and provides feedback to enquirers on their concerns. 2. It also takes a proactive approach through spot checks on procurement documents.

This enables the Government to:

• identify areas of poor procurement practice so we can work with the contracting authority to put them right, and help ensure similar cases do not arise in future
• take action to reduce the likelihood of similar issues arising in other authorities
• identify examples of good practice that we can share with other authorities

You can use the service by sending an email to MysteryShopper@cabinet-office.gsi.gov.uk or by telephoning their Service Desk on 01603 704999.

What bodies are covered?

• central government departments (e.g. Defra, MOD) – they will address feedback about the central departments or any of the bodies for which they are responsible (list of government departments)
• the wider public sector (e.g. local authorities, NHS trusts or education establishments) in England (They do not investigate procurement carried out by devolved bodies in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales)
• prime contractors working on government contracts – we will work with contract managers in departments and prime contractors to address feedback about unfair practices and other issues in the supply chain of government contracts

Before contacting the Mystery Shopper team If you want to submit feedback to us read the terms set out in our scope and remit. This explains what we may be able to achieve in relation to your concerns. By submitting feedback to the Mystery Shopper Scheme you are accepting the scope and remit of the service.

Results We publish the results of the investigations into the cases we examine. The documents on the Mystery Shopper results page set out the issues and the resolution of the cases investigated so far. We also use social media to share the results of our investigations, only the contracting authority is named when we share and publish our results.

Taking a proactive approach The Mystery Shopper Scheme now carries out spot checks on procurement processes as well as continuing to deal with referrals raised by SMEs and other concerned suppliers. This extension of the Mystery Shopper scheme was announced in the report Small Business GREAT Ambition.

The Mystery Shopper team examines procurement documents, typically from online portals, and discusses their findings with the contracting authority responsible for the procurement. Cases are selected at random from a spread of organisations, either looking at general procurement issues or focusing on particular aspects of the procurement. The team will publish the results of cases in line with the government’s commitment to transparency.

The Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is looking to recruit a Business Manager.

The Business Manager will be field based and responsible for being proactive in generating and recruiting new members within Norfolk, with specific emphasis on the 11-50 employee range, but has the business knowledge to empathise and communicate effectively with all sized businesses.

There will be an element of retention activity that is reactive to the Membership Advisor’s activity

Full details can be found here

If interested please send your CV with a covering letter to julie.austin@norfolkchamber.co.uk

Norwich International Airport and Flybe are currently surveying the route between Norwich and Manchester with the aim of delivering improved air services to better meet your business travel needs from your local airport.

They would also like to hear from you as to what else they could do to further improve the service from Norwich, your local airport. This online questionnaire will take less than 60 seconds to fill in.

Click here to complete the online survey.

In addition, Norwich International Airport would also welcome any views on the Flybe services from Norwich to Edinburgh, Guernsey, or Jersey, or indeed any other aspect of air travel which is relevant to your organisation.

Virgin Atlantic Little Red and the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) have launched an exciting partnership offering members of the Accredited Chamber Network the opportunity to join a high profile trade mission to Mumbai, India.

Virgin Atlantic are running a mission to Mumbai, India between 7th – 10th October 2014 and are offering free return flights for five competition winners to join them. The BCC has agreed to partner with Virgin Atlantic on this initiative and as such the competition is only open to members of the Accredited Chamber Network.

The competition is free to enter and simply involves answering a few short questions about your export activity and why you would want to join a trade mission to Mumbai.

For full details and to enter the competition please go the Export Britain website

The Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is looking to recruit aMembership Advisor.

Objective of the Role:

Working as part of the membership team, the Membership Adviser is responsible for increasing the uptake of Chamber membership recruitment, services and events attendance, by taking a proactive approach to non members and existing members by encouraging them to engage with the Chamber. A combined role of member customer care and generating new leads for recruitment conversion.

A full job descriptiopn can be found here

If interested please send your CV with a covering letter to julie.austin@norfolkchamber.co.uk

By John Morse, President of Great Yarmouth Chamber Council

I was reflecting on the recent news where Christine Lagarde, Head of the IMF asked if she should go down on her knees before George Osborne and apologise for being too pessimistic about her organisation’s growth forecasts for the UK. It’s rather like human nature where, more often than not, people who stay in hotels or eat at restaurants will tend to provide negative, rather than positive feedback of their experiences, via Trip Advisor and the like.

So, as regular readers of my Great Yarmouth Mercury President’s column are aware, it is essential that we always look for the positive, rather than the negative. The Chamber is therefore delighted to hear of substantial amounts of recent good news, across most sectors, from the business community in Great Yarmouth.

So for starters, news that Pasta Foods who, in addition to having recently won the Eastern Daily Press Best International Business Award, has now secured major new contracts, both to supply their products to over 3,000 supermarkets across the USA, and have also won another major contract to supply the Co-op, with their own-brand Fusilli, must come as really good news for the Company.

Managing Director and Great Yarmouth Chamber Council Member, Karl Jermyn commented that now the Great Yarmouth facility is now working at maximum capacity, continued expansion has necessitated the company having to start additional manufacturing in Norwich. Pasta Foods are continuing to made inroads into the lucrative American market and expect to secure a further major snack foods contract for a world-renown major US company, very shortly.

So having seen good news in the manufacturing sector, it is equally good to note the recent announcement that Eastport will be the home base of a new operations and Maintenance Base for the new, Statoil-operated Dudgeon offshore wind farm. After many years of continuing effort to secure inward investment for the offshore wind sector, Statoil are taking a 25 year lease of 1.7 acres of land at the Eastport facility. This clearly places the port in a strong position to build on this success and potentially provide similar facilities for other offshore renewables businesses.

Elsewhere in the energy sector, it’s great news that Chamber member Claxton Engineering Services has secured its largest ever contract, to run for a minimum of 6 years, to provide Det norske oljeselskap ASA with high- and low-pressure risers, auxiliary equipment and services offshore Norway. Managing Director, Laura Claxton confirmed that this contract underlines the company’s commitment to the region and supports its plans for further expansion.

There has been recent good news too in the retail sector. Several food and leisure services providers including Premier Inn, Brewers Fayre, Frankie & Bennies, Marstons an Burger King have announced plans to open branches in Great Yarmouth.

Last and by no means least, the Tourism Sector is in very optimistic mood for the season ahead. The Great Yarmouth Tourist Authority recently held its annual awards lunch and the upbeat mood was very evident from all those businesses present. There are some really good local service providers who are demonstrating a continued commitment to improve the borough’s tourist offer and in particular, the GYTA announced a new improvement scheme, called the Business Improvement District, where, working together, local firms will now leverage over £2.4million over 5 years, to reinvest in the sector.

So, across the range of services offered by the town, things are on the up. Unemployment is down to pre-2008 levels and the place has a spring in its step. So even if Christine Lagarde isn’t amongst them, the nay-sayers had better look out, Great Yarmouth is definitely open for business.

If you are looking to launch a new product, or integrate a new process into your business, there is help out there for you to do this. NWES can help you reach these goals through their Ready Set Go innovation programme. The programme is facilitated by European Regional Development Fund and is designed to help you bring growth to your business and achieve success.

Ready Set Go is available to both pre-start and existing businesses based in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk. It is available to any business employing less than 250 employees that wishes to increase their levels of innovation by introducing a new product, process or idea.

Sectors that are not eligible: agriculture, education and construction.

As part of the programme your business is provided with business adviser to help implement your project, this support might include help with your business plan, marketing, trade marks, intellectual property or introduction to a knowledge transfer network.

Need funding?

You may also wish to apply for a bursary. The bursaries awarded by the Ready Set Go programme range from £2,500 to £25,000 and represent at 25% reimbursement of spend undertaken by the company. Bursaries can be awarded to assist business in the following areas:

• Research and development
• Knowledge transfer with Universities or Colleges
• Intellectual Property registration
• Equipment or services to support a technology step-change
• Alternative uses for waste products
• Creation of prototypes
• Marketing, publicity and attendance at trade fairs

The bursary is unable to reimburse cost incurred for:

• Vehicles
• Purchase of premises
• Staff costs

For more information please call: 0845 609 9991 or email: info@nwes.org.uk

Carole Osborne of Osbornenash provided a popular subject amongst our delegates, hosting a full session on creative marketing. She provided a strong presentation on the subject, giving delegates personal case studies and giving them the opportunity to put into practice what they learnt through various activities. On this, Lucy Wright of First Eastern Counties Buses Ltd said “I enjoyed the workshop aspect. Brilliant presentation and presenter with a good use of case studies”. Carole said her highlight of the session was “having a good and interactive audience”. Her top tips for creative marketing would be to “take risks” and “monitor” your marketing.

For more information on the work Osbornenash do, please click here.

We have just released Series 4 of The Chamber Sessions, including repeated sessions from the previous series and new topics ready to help better your business. For more information on these, please click here. This particular session is being repeated on the 16 September. To view this, please click here.

Every company should examine the ways in which it works and should consider efficiency changes that will help result in reductions of waste, energy usage, fuel consumption, transport, IT systems and resource usage. To help Norfolk companies do just that there is the Low Carbon Innovation Fund. The fund has two parts, the Main Fund and the Smaller Investments Scheme Fund.

The Main Fund provides investments between £75k – £1M. LCIF funds must always be matched by private co investment of at least the same amount and may not exceed 50% of the total investment round.

All first stage applications are made using the online form, after which eligibility checks are made and the proposal is reviewed. Once an applicant has completed the online form, the Fund Manager will allocate each application to the appropriate approval route – either the Smaller Investments Scheme or Main Fund, depending on the amount of investment the company requires. The Main Fund has a more extensive assessment than the Smaller Investments Scheme, and as a result, applications typically take longer from initial application to investment funds being transferred.

For more information on the Main Fund: www.lowcarbonfund.co.uk/LCIF/MainFund.action

LCIF’s Smaller Investments Scheme provides investments between £10k – £75k. LCIF funds must always be matched by private co investment of at least the same amount and may not exceed 50% of the total investment round. The Smaller Investment Scheme is a streamlined process; many applications are completed 6-8 weeks from the point of transfer from the Fund Manager.

For more information on the Smaller Investment Scheme Fund: www.lowcarbonfund.co.uk/LCIF/SmallerInvestmentsScheme.action

How do I apply?

What are the minimum and maximum investments from the Low Carbon Innovation Fund? The minimum investment from LCIF is £10K and the maximum is £1M and must always be invested alongside private co-investment (e.g. Business Angels, High Net Worth Individuals, other Funds or trade investors) LCIF can only invest up to 50% of the amount a company is seeking.

What counts as co-investment? Co-investors (e.g. Business Angels, High Net Worth Individuals, other Funds or trade investors) will invest their money at the same time as LCIF, as part of the same funding round and on substantially the same terms as LCIF. Typically this will take the form of equity (shares) in the business.

Can the Fund make follow-on investments? Yes, companies that have already received LCIF investment are eligible to be considered for follow-on funding.

Do grants count as co-investment? No, co-investment must always be another investor taking a share of the business at the same time and on the same terms as LCIF. You can, however, apply for and bring in (unlimited) grant money alongside the LCIF investment.

How does LCIF differ from grant funding? LCIF is a venture capital fund which provides investment to the company in return for a stake in that company. Low Carbon Innovation Fund therefore typically becomes a shareholder. In contrast, grant funders do not hold equity or another stake in the company.

What if the other investor is investing public funds? No more than 50% of the investment round can be from public funds.

What percentage holding of the company do you take? The equity that LCIF takes in the in the company is dependent on a number of factors, such as the value of the company the level of investment injected into the company and the level of risk. This is negotiated as part of the Investment Agreement.

Do any parties take preferential shares? LCIF takes ordinary shares in most cases. LCIF invests pari passu (on the same terms) with the other investors and would consider preference shares if appropriate.

What is the typical level of post investment involvement from the representatives of the Fund (Fund Manager)? The minimum involvement required by LCIF is board observer rights. The fund will request a board position (non-executive director) if deemed appropriate.

What are the monitoring requirements for the investee companies? LCIF will keep in regular contact with investee companies to find out what has happened as a result of the investment i.e. new jobs created and to help with publicity.

How long will the application process take from start to finish? There is no standard timeline. Each case is treated individually depending on the complexity of the investment proposal. Typical timescales: Smaller Investment Scheme 6-8 weeks, Main Fund 3-6 months.

What application support is available? LCIF runs an Investment Readiness Programme (IRP) for companies that have applied to the Fund who require support or would benefit from expert business advice to develop their business plan.

Can you accept ‘in-kind’ as match funding? No.

Am I eligible?

What type of companies can apply? Companies must conform to the European Commission’s definition of a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME). This can include start-ups, spin outs and early stage businesses as well as companies seeking second stage investment. Applicants are required to check that their company is an eligible SME.

What do we mean by low carbon? The fund can invest in companies that are:

• developing low carbon products or components
• selling services to support carbon reduction
• contributing to carbon reduction through a focus on resource efficiency, process efficiency and waste reduction

How can your company become ‘low carbon?’ There are a number of sources of information to help companies think about their own carbon management plan, such as how to set targets or implement changes to calculate the resulting reduction in carbon emissions. Please see our Useful Links page for further information or call LCIF on 01603 597248.

What activities are NOT eligible for LCIF funding? The following are examples and do not represent an exhaustive list. Suppliers to excluded sectors may still be eligible to apply to LCIF. Please contact us if you have a query.

• Further education
• Agriculture in terms of primary food production & processing only is also excluded from ERDF support due to being a land based activity and therefore covered under the EU RDPE programme and excluded from ERDF support from the Competitiveness Programme. Products manufactured or developed by those not eligible for EAFRD support are likely to be eligible for LCIF funding
• Construction and renovation
• Retail
• The production of synthetic fibres, textiles and clothing, motor vehicles, shipbuilding and coal and steel
• Banks and insurance companies. These should not be directly offered investment, although would be acceptable as supporting members of a consortium or as co-financers of a Venture Capital Fund or other loan fund
• Social or welfare facilities for example, hospitals, nursing homes, fire stations, stand-alone childcare schemes or facilities, sports facilities, parks and public libraries – when these are not directly linked to activities of an economic nature specifically related to the objectives of this programme
• Building and renovation of housing stock, although mixed use projects may be considered
• Coastal protection, soil conservation and infrastructures
• Major infrastructure in ports
• That proportion of public expenditure incurred in land acquisition not directly linked to productive investment or investment in infrastructure
• Exclusively retail developments

In this Chamber Session, Su Ingle of Su Ingle Media gave an engaging presentation on her top tips to using the media to promote your business. She gave her delegates interesting case studies to look over and talked about on her own experiences. Su also gave them some useful tips as to how to use radio, TV and press releases and tools to working with the media. Matt Brown of One Vision said “Su was a great presenter and very knowledgeable”. Su’s highlight from the session was “meeting different businesses” and her top 3 tips for using the media would be to “prepare by knowing your audience, prioritise your key messages in order and to prove points with evidence”.

For more information on Su Ingle Media, please click here. For further information of the sessions that remains in series 3, or any of our other events, please visit click here.