Chamber News

Talking Tech is Norfolk Chambers’ flagship technology conference, held annually in September at The Space, Norwich. This September it will return on Wednesday 18th, 9am – 2pm with a mixture of keynote speakers and panel discussions designed to inspire and enlighten a business audience of 180+. Rewind to 2018 where we opened an application process for the first time for those wishing to speak at the event. The application process allowed experts among the tech community to come forward and highlight topics ‘trending’ in the sector. Half of the Talking Tech speaker line up in 2018 came from the applications, and with such a high success rate we’ve opened it again for 2019’s conference.  This year’s event theme is all about busting myths. We want to look at the rumours and myths surrounding technology in the workplace and highlight the truth, be it positive or negative. If ‘Every Business Is Becoming a Technology Business’ what myths and barriers hinder that transition?  You can apply to speak on our website, this will then be submitted for review. Once applications close in early May all applicants will be contacted the outcome of their application. Talks need to be inspiring and informative, and must not be a sales pitch for you or your business. Apply now to be in with the chance of joining us on the big stage with an audience of over 180 local businesses! Apply here.   Talking Tech 2019 is sponsored by Breakwater IT. Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are available.

After much speculation we are pleased to finally reveal the new home for our flagship event, The B2B Exhibition, will be…… Norfolk Showground! Taking place annually for 20 years now, B2B will be moving to a new home on Thursday 17 October 2019 after years of sold out exhibition floor at Norwich City Football Club.  With a new venue comes plenty of new opportunities for businesses across Norfolk and beyond. “The move to Norfolk Showground is so important for B2B to continue to grow and make its mark not only on Norfolk, but across the borders. The show has been a sell out for 4 years now and we don’t want to turn anyone away from taking part in this showcase of brilliant Norfolk businesses. Norfolk Showground not only offers us a fantastic space, but opportunities to push the boundaries of what the show can offer.” – Sam Brown, Conference & Events Manager With Norfolk Showground situated just off the A47, there is great access meaning the exhibition opens up to businesses across the region. We want to see more businesses from areas outside of Norwich exhibiting to help us make this a showcase of the region’s best.  For the first time we will be introducing a limited number of shell-scheme stands. These stands will allow the businesses who book them to create their own booths and really make the space their own.  As well as all this we’ve also introduced new sponsorship packages to maximise visibility at the show, and we’ve been working with Naked Element to build bespoke booking software, allowing businesses to book their stands with total ease.  General stand sales will begin on Monday 1 April.  The B2B Exhibition 2019 will take place at Norfolk Showground on Thursday 17th October 2019, 10am – 4pm. The B2B Exhibition is sponsored by MIGSOLV. For sponsorship opportunities, please click here.

It was a fantastic to start to last week, with our CEO Chris heading over to the International Aviation Academy at Norwich airport. Where he visited Adrian Leatherland from The Aviation Skills Partnership. Adrian, Head of Academies and Hubs was officially welcomed to the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce on Monday afternoon and wow, we couldn’t have asked for a more impressive backdrop for our photo gallery! We are thrilled to have the ASP on board, sharing their vision of support and connectivity. As an independent organisation they are dedicated to making the aviation industry accessible to all via their comprehensive Pathways and Programmes covering the six areas of Aviation: 1.       Engineering & Maintenance 2.       Professional Pilot 3.       Air traffic control 4.       Airport operations 5.       Operations and crewing 6.       Cabin Crew If working in aviation seems a far-away dream, Adrian and his colleagues work tirelessly to guide you through training programmes, degree courses – whatever it takes whether it’s advice, resources, connections, and support you need – no matter where you come from or where you want to go, they’ll  find the pathway that’s right for you. We look forward to supporting the team at the ASP and working with them in 2019.

A recent trade mission from Norfolk and Suffolk visited the South West and toured Hinkley Point C in Somerset.  It rapidly became apparent, based on that visit, the scale of the potential of the opportunities for local businesses from the construction of a similar project at Sizewell C, just over the border in Suffolk.

The Hinkley Point C site was huge.  They were just reaching the end of the earthworks stage and they had already turned a valley into a hill, with the backfilled earth; had nearly 3,000 workers on site; and 13 tower cranes.  Together with a whole traffic lighted transport system, including 122 park and ride buses servicing the site each day.  Nearly 50% of the workforce were local to the region and it is anticipated that over the lifetime of the project, the average of local workforce would be about 35%.

Throughout the overall project, they expect to move 5.6 million cubic metres of earth; award £1.5 billion of contracts to South West companies; lay 4,000km of electrical cabling; and have 52 tower cranes on site.  Overall, the completed nuclear power station will generate 7% of the UK’s electricity.

It is clear that the project at Sizewell C will have huge opportunities for local businesses from groundworks, to catering, electrical and mechanical engineering through to senior scientists.  But as a region we must start now to ensure we are ready to take advantage of the opportunity.

So what steps can you take now?

Register your interest in the Sizewell C supply chain

Want to know more – hear from the organisations that went on the trade mission

This month, Philippa Bindley, Head of Customer Experience at Norfolk Chamber of Commerce met with Fiona Brown, CEO of OpenContact to find out their exciting plans for the year ahead.

Norwich-based outsource contact centre business OpenContact formed in 2000 and have been members of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce from day one. They boast an impressive client list of both national and local brands including; The View from The Shard, Go Ape, & The Cotswold Company to name just a few.

This year they are embarking on an exciting new chapter after an eventful, and at times challenging, 2018.

A fresh start to 2019 for OpenContact follows a year which saw them move from their previous premises on Rountree Way to Norfolk Tower on Surrey Street in a bid to attract and secure the best talent for the future. In addition, the new premises has allowed the business to design an attractive working environment with a future-proof technical infrastructure. 

CEO Fiona Temple said “Being located in the city centre will give us access to a greater talent pool so we can develop our service offering to clients and respond to the evolving needs of consumers.  As self-service and AI gain a larger share of the customer service space, when customers do need to interact with humans the issues tend to be more complex, and as an outsourcer we need to react to this by employing the best skills to deliver a great customer experience.”

2018 also brought tragedy to OpenContact when their founder and former Chairman Ron Pollin sadly passed away after a short battle with cancer.  Ron, who was also Fiona Temple’s father, was a prominent businessman in Norwich for over 25 years, having previously been a partner in advertising firm Barlett Jones Pollin before founding OpenContact in 2000.

Fiona says “Last year was challenging and eventful and I am incredibly proud of the team for building some strong foundations upon which we can achieve our ambitious growth plans and continue my Dad’s legacy of delivering excellent service for our clients and their customers.”

As part of moving on and making a fresh start OpenContact has recently completed a full rebrand including a new logo and imaging as well as a full redesign of the company’s website in line with their values and purpose of “making people smile”. 

The rebrand and new website was designed by former EDP Small business of the year winners, Naked Marketing who are based in Hingham, Norfolk.

On the rebrand Fiona said “Contact Centres don’t normally make people smile but we set ourselves apart from the rest of the industry by ensuring every interaction we have with our client’s customers is positive and reassuring, creating a great customer experience which builds brand loyalty and sales.”

OpenContact provides outsourced customer contact solutions for call handling, email, web chat and social media across a number of industry sectors including travel, leisure, retail and financial services, and this was a key part of the rebranding brief. OpenContact hold being chameleonic as one of their core values which means that they can adapt to the various different environments of clients’ industries and deliver solutions that meet their needs. Their branding uses the colours of the chameleon to reflect their flexibility and adaptability.

To find out more information about OpenContact visit their website: https://www.opencontact.co.uk

If you’ve ever been to Barnham Broom Hotel you’ll know how beautiful it is, especially in the glorious sunshine. We were lucky enough to hold the very first event in their newly refurbished Barford Suite on Wednesday 20th March and it did not disappoint. We had over 80 delegates in attendance for our first South Norfolk Breakfast of the year.

The morning was very kindly sponsored by Norfolk County Council who were also presenting on improving Norfolk’s infrastructure. Our speakers were David Allfrey, Infrastructure Delivery Manager, and Chris Fernandez, Norwich Western Link Project Manager, from Norfolk County Council.

David gave an excellent overview of the importance of investing in Norfolk’s transport infrastructure (something that is very close to many of our delegates’ hearts) and an update on the Council’s priority projects. He also touched on the Transforming Cities Fund, its goals, and where the funding is coming from; as well as the improvements being made to the A47.

Chris then took over the mantle and concentrated specifically on the Norwich Western Link which will see the A47 linked to the western end of the Broadland Northway (formally the NDR). He highlighted the issues currently faced by those using the transport links around Norwich and the benefits to business including: improving access to employment areas, cutting travel times and fuel costs for haulage and distribution, and alleviating congestion among others. Chris then went on to outline the route options that the council is considering for the project and the impact each option would have.

It was a very informative morning and there were a number of questions from delegates including around what the council is doing about public transport links and how this will work with the improvements being made. To keep updated about the Norwich Western Link please go to www.norfolk.gov.uk/nwl.

We were very pleased to have the National Centre for Writing as our featured charity and they were running a competition for a delegate and a group from their company to win a guided tour of the historic Dragon Hall where they’re based.

Our next networking breakfast in South Norfolk is on Thursday June 13th, find out more here.

Reacting to the latest Brexit developments, Dr Adam Marshall, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce, said:

“Are people and businesses tired and frustrated after three years of constant Brexit drama? Of course. ‪But is being fed up a valid reason for Westminster to put people’s livelihoods and our communities on the block in a messy and disorderly exit on March 29th? Absolutely not.

“The question on the minds of everyone in business in the UK is: now what? Our future is no clearer today than it was weeks, even months ago. And that is unacceptable.”

Could you be a Future50 2019 business? The search is on for the brightest sparks on East Anglia’s business scene.

The Future50 campaign has seen its former members turn from start-ups to multi-million pound businesses, and its partners are on the hunt for the next big thing. Applications are now open for businesses to apply to the Future50 2019 cohort.

The Future50 project, which identifies and supports 50 businesses from across Norfolk and Suffolk, has launched its 2019 campaign.

Over the coming weeks, businesses of all sizes and types will be reviewed by a panel of judges until the final cut is revealed.

From there, they will be offered access to exclusive events that will provide unique access to business innovators and champions, as well as development of a peer group that provides support, learning and trading opportunities.

On top of this, Future50 firms will receive multimedia exposure via Archant media channels, as well as regular updates on topical business issues and key local developments.

They will also be given access to business support through the partners and their networks to develop strategy, business plans and support implementation, access to finance and financial performance, as well as vital signposting to local and national funding opportunities to assist investment plans.

The project is sponsored by six of the region’s biggest business advocates: Barclays, the University of East Anglia, the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, solicitors Birketts, accountants Lovewell Blake and media organisation Archant.

To apply to be one of the Future50 2019 businesses visit: https://www.edp24.co.uk/business/future50

Yesterday, businesses in Norfolk’s food and drink sector had the opportunity to hear directly from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) about the potential impact of a no deal Brexit on their industry and to ask any specific questions that they had.  The event was held in conjunction with Local Flavours and Birketts LLP and was attended by a range of businesses including Pasta Foods, Bullards Gin, Pepperells Meats, Yare Valley Oils and Fresh Pod.

Elizabeth Osgood from Defra’s Business Readiness team, provided information about the key changes as a result of the UK leaving the EU; how imports, exports and food labelling would be affected and offered some practical tips for the businesses around the table.

Some of the key takeaways included:

Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) – If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, businesses will need an EORI number that starts with GB to continue trading with the EU after 29 March 2019.

Food Labelling – the rules for what you must show on food labels will change for some food and drink products if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 29 March 2019. Some of the new rules will come into effect from exit day. For others, businesses will have longer to update their food labels.  The UK government is aiming, wherever possible, to allow a transition period for labelling changes in relation to goods produced or imported and placed on the UK market after exit day. – for full information on all the aspects of food labelling click here.

Supply Chain – assess your whole supply chain – not only your food and drink products, but also any cleaning products/chemicals that are a necessary part of your product processing. i.e. carbonated drinks need Co2.  You also need to note that whilst your immediate suppliers may not affected, do their suppliers import from the EU and could this ultimately impact on you?

Businesses also heard an update on the regulations surrounding employing overseas workers and the potential impacts on GDPR regulations, where business data is being transferred between the UK and the EU.

Commenting on the event, Nova Fairbank, Head of Policy for Norfolk Chamber of Commerce said:

“A recent Norfolk Chambers survey showed that 96% of businesses in our region advised that a No Deal Brexit would impact on their businesses in some way.  Any opportunity that we can offer them to hear more information on the level of preparation needed for the UK’s departure from the EU is very welcome.  Today’s event certainly provided plenty for our food and drink sector to think about.”

Commenting on the inflation statistics for February 2019, published today by the Office for National Statistics, Suren Thiru, Head of Economics at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“Inflation picked-up for the first time since August 2018, with rising prices across a range of items including food and alcohol, placing the largest upward pressure on price growth in February.

“Inflation is likely to drift higher in the coming months as the expected increase in Ofgem’s energy price cap in April enters the calculation. Businesses also continue to report that the cost of imported raw materials are rising. As these high input costs filter through supply chains, they could increase the upward pressure on consumer prices in the short-term.

“Overall, the UK’s weakening economic outlook is likely to ensure that any increase in consumer prices would be largely transitory, and inflation is expected to remain close to the Bank of England’s 2% target for some time to come.

“With the current trajectory for inflation largely benign, there remains sufficient scope to keep interest rates on hold through this year, particularly against a backdrop of increasing anxiety over Brexit and slowing economic growth.

“The overriding priority must be for parliament to avoid a messy and disorderly departure from the EU, which would likely drive a marked drop in sterling and could significantly increase inflation and the cost pressure on businesses and consumers.”

Norfolk Chambers is known in the region for our networking breakfasts, with two held every month across Norwich, Great Yarmouth, West Norfolk, South Norfolk and North Norfolk. Our networking breakfasts are perfect for businesses both in those areas, and from outside to meet new businesses, catch up with fellow Chamber members and enjoy and inspirational talk, all over breakfast.  The networking breakfast attendance numbers varies per location, with some attracting over 100 attendees! With so many attendees though, how do you make your business stand out? Well, we can help you with that! We’ve now introduced our bespoke promotional packages for networking breakfasts. The idea is to allow you to build a package that suits your business and your budget, giving you different options to promote your business at each event.  Each item is individually priced starting from just £50+VAT, and each item includes an event ticket worth £20+VAT! Take a look at the options below: Pop-up – £50+VAT Bring your pull up banners to the event, with x1 event ticket included. Literature – £50+VAT Place your leaflets or booklets on the delegate tables, with x1 event ticket included. Exhibition stand – £75+VAT Includes a table at the event for you to create an exhibition stand, with space for literature on the exhibition table only, pull-up banners behind the exhibition table and x1 event ticket included. Welcome address – £150+VAT A 5 minute talk at the start of the event, your logo on the event agendas and x1 event ticket included. Marketing package – £150+VAT Your logo and details listed on the website, email marketing, event agenda, event communication, with direct links to your pages where applicable, and x1 event ticket included. Take-over package – £550+VAT Includes all of the above, plus you get the main speaking slot at the event! You decide the topic*, and we do all the hard work! You then get a 10-15 minute speaking slot, Q&A time plus x3 event tickets included. *Topics must be approved by Norfolk Chambers of Commerce to ensure the topic is relevant and of interest to the business community.  Take a look at our upcoming events to see if you’d like to get involved with our NEW bespoke packaging! Click here to see upcoming networking events. Interested in taking your business to an even bigger audience? Why not check out all of our promotional opportunities – click here to find out more. To discuss any of our packages further, please do get in touch: hello@norfolkchamber.co.uk 01603 625977

Offshore energy industry titans Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, ScottishPower Renewables, and Vattenfall have joined forces with the University of East Anglia, Nautilus Associates and local charity The Bridge Trust to form the STEM Coordination Hub. In a highly innovative and game-changing approach they are developing a solution to improve the learning experience and create new career opportunities for young people in Norfolk and Suffolk.

An increasingly fragmented STEM education landscape is contributing to a crisis in the talent pipeline, affecting not just offshore wind but almost all sectors. This industry-funded programme brings together employers with education and academia to transform the STEM provision in Norfolk and Suffolk, directly impacting the future workforce in the East of England.

The STEM Coordination Hub will initially be piloted in parts of Norfolk and Suffolk, counties that are already a hub for engineering and technology supporting the energy sector. It aims to make the most of what is already there, identify and plug the gaps and find new ways to enhance STEM education.

Over half of the UK’s offshore wind industry is located off the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk, with a development pipeline that could see more than 15GW developed over the next decade, or half of the industry’s vision to deliver 30GW by 2030 up from 7.5GW today. The region has also been identified as one of the UK’s leading energy clusters when Claire Perry, Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, was in Lowestoft last week launching the new national Offshore Wind Sector Deal.

The sector supports thousands of high-skilled jobs across the supply chain, generating billions in revenue, but an increased supply of STEM skills is crucial in other key sectors in the region such as nuclear, civil engineering, agri-tech, finance, life sciences, and digital creative industries.

The project takes a game-changing approach to the problem by integrating industry itself into the solution. Businesses will have the opportunity to directly influence the conversation driving STEM delivery in education.

Sonja Chirico Indrebø is the Power Plant Manager of the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, which is operated and part-owned by Equinor. As one of the first female Power Plant Managers’ in the UK offshore wind energy industry, she said:

“I believe we all have a duty to be role models for future generations, and by strengthening the delivery of STEM skills, the Stem Hub will help inspire today’s young people to become tomorrow’s scientists, engineers and inventors.”

Victoria Sinclair for ScottishPower Renewables said:

“We are excited to be supporting the STEM Hub and furthering our commitment to promote STEM subjects and careers to young people across East Anglia. The STEM Hub represents a unique opportunity for us to deepen our understanding of what students, teachers and parents would like to know about when it comes to STEM. We believe in a collaborative approach between education and industry when it comes to encouraging young people particularly girls into STEM subjects and believe the STEM Hub will be a huge step forward in achieving this.”

Susan Falch-Lovesey, Skills Champion for Vattenfall said

“Vattenfall believe in enabling high quality skills and learning opportunities that inform our next generation’s career aspirations. We are thrilled to collaborate with Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, ScottishPower Renewables and other industry and academic partners on this innovative initiative and look forward to working together to create inclusive pathways into the offshore wind industry for our talented students.”

Professor Lawrence Coates from UEA’s Faculty of Science said

“The UEA relishes the chance to work directly with these industry partners in helping young learners to understand the full range of STEM opportunities available to them.”

A new web portal will offer work experience opportunities and STEM events to students and teachers, and signpost STEM resources for educators to use in teaching and career personal development (CPD).

The project was originally developed by Nautilus Associates whilst investigating opportunities to encourage business growth in North Norfolk, a piece of work that highlighted the barriers and challenges industry faces and acted as a catalyst to develop a solution.

Johnathan Reynolds, Managing Director at Nautilus Associates said

“Seeing our ambitious solution come to fruition has been immensely exciting for the Nautilus team. “The STEM Coordination Hub is a new and disruptive model that we hope will significantly enhance STEM activity in the area. The Hub will focus on the benefits to young learners, but crucially it will also provide support to teachers, non-teaching support staff, parents and guardians, and other influencers too. You never know, we could be educating parents about new career opportunities in the clean energy sectors as well as their children.”

The Hub will be hosted by The Bridge Trust, a Great Yarmouth-based charity that provides support to young people and community development.

The UK government’s recently announced sector deal will ensure 30% of electricity comes from offshore wind by 2030. It also aims to increase the number of highly-skilled jobs to 27,000, up from 7,200 today.

The deal explicitly sets out steps to achieve at least 33% of women in the total offshore wind workforce by 2030, with the ambition of reaching 40%. As International Women’s’ Day highlighted, women currently represent just 16% of this workforce.

The STEM Coordination Hub has ambitions to improve parity between the sexes, helping young people to access STEM and improve the entry rate of women into the workforce.

Celia Anderson, Director of STEM Coordination Hub knows the programme will be transformative:

“STEM is the cornerstone of 21st Century industry. We have a responsibility to ensure the workforce of the future can meet the demands of tomorrow’s industry. This is a partnership of incredible organisations determined to deliver a shared vision: local people with well-paid sustainable STEM based careers.

“We will only make the vision a reality if we work together to enthuse more young people about the opportunities for them in STEM based employment. By putting industry at the heart of this process, we can support education’s ability to deliver STEM whilst giving students unparalleled opportunities to gain real-world experience in some of the country’s most exciting businesses.”

The STEM Coordination Hub will launch formally in May this year and is actively seeking to grow its industry and education partnerships.