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Norfolk Chamber advises all its members involved in working with clients on business advice to look at the option to register on the new government Market Place within the Enterprise Nation website. The Growth Voucher scheme has now launched and will give £2k match funding to businesses employing under 49 full time employees to be used against business advice against the themes: Raising Finance; Expanding your workforce; IT & Web; Leadership and Management; Marketing and Customer Service. Click here the criteria for Growth Voucher Advisors. (Jason see below)

If you are a business employing less than 49 employee I strongly suggest you register to see if you can access Growth Voucher funding. It does not seem very onerous but you do need to be able to match fund any voucher value agree once you have met with one of their advisors to discuss your needs.

Full details on how to register to be a Growth Voucher Advisor can be found here

Criteria for Growth Voucher Advisors

1. Certain level of membership of a Professional Body

Professional bodies must:

• Have a code of conduct, which includes a complaints handling process and the ability to remove a member if found to be breaking code
• Be recognised as the lead authority or one of the lead authorities on one or more of the five advice topics of the Growth Vouchers programme
• Have robust membership standards (i.e. members must prove relevant qualifications, experience, continuing professional development, references, etc.)

For example:

Managing cashflow, late payments and negotiating finance

• ACCA – Professional ACCA qualification
• ICAEW – ACA, Full member
• CIMA – CIMA member in practice

Developing skills and taking on staff

• CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) – Chartered member

Improving Leadership and Management

• Institute of Consulting – Member

Marketing, attracting and keeping customers

• Chartered Institute of Marketing- MCIM

Making the most of digital technology

• BCS The Chartered Institute for IT – Chartered IT Professional (CITP)

2. Three years experience of working in, or advising, small businesses

3. Professional indemnity insurance

Note: We are happy to talk to other professional bodies and organisations that accredit advisors in the five topics that the programme focuses on with a view to including them in the programme if they meet the criteria or have suggestions about how the criteria could be adapted.

Why are businesses required to be members of professional bodies?

We want to ensure that advisors are qualified to provide advice and that there is a route of redress available if a business receives bad advice. Professional membership at the levels stated will ensure that advisors meet baseline standards and that there is a complaints procedure in place. While this won’t guarantee quality, it should reduce the risk of bad advice and protect businesses to some degree. The rating facility on the Marketplace, and other experience, qualifications, references and training, will help small businesses decide who to select.

As a follow up to the Norfolk Chamber’s ‘Audience with George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’ event on the 7 November, we submitted a number of questions from our members to the Chancellor. Responses to those questions are now starting to be received from the relevant Ministers within Westminster.

Chand Chudasama is Assistant Manager at Price Bailey who are based on St Andrews Business Park in Norwich. Price Bailey have been members of the Chamber for around 18 years.

Chand’s question to the Chancellor was:

“In a digital age where knowledge is easily accessible and less relevant in differentiating both candidates for jobs and competing organisations, how does the government plan on creating an education environment that fosters critical thinking and innovation from a young age?

The reason I want to ask the question is that I feel that the changes Michael Gove and this government has made to the education system are based on the regurgitation of knowledge rather than developing staff who can think and add value through innovative ideas.

Much of Germany’s strength in their economic model comes from the financial support and training provide by their ‘Mittlestand’ (or mid-tier) – these long established, family owned businesses are also prevalent in Norfolk but do not have the same level of financial support or integration into the economy as we bundle too much into the ‘SME’ definition.

What is being done to build our middle-tier as much of the economic focus seems to be on start-ups and small businesses which are less secure employers and debtors for lenders?”

Find on the attached document the written response from Elizabeth Truss MP for Education and Childcare.

As a follow up to the Norfolk Chamber’s ‘Audience with George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’ event on the 7 November, we submitted a number of questions from our members to the Chancellor. Responses to those questions are now starting to be received from the relevant Ministers within Westminster.

Tim Green is Site Manager of Briar Chemicals Ltd. The Norwich based company have been members of the Chamber for around two-and-a-half years.

Tim’s question to the Chancellor was:

“We are a Norwich based company with 240 employees and a turnover of more than £45m. Our market is more than 95 percent export based. Our future success relies on our ability to respond quickly and clearly to customer requests. For any change we need comments from the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency and planning permission. These steps take too long- in a recent case HSE took 10 months to comment (positively) on a minor change. What is the government doing to speed up these processes and make the timescales more rigorous?”

Find on the attached document the written response from the Department for Work and Pensions.

• Survey of more than 2,400 exporting firms shows that 72% of exporters expect their turnover to improve this quarter – the highest number on record
• More than one third of exporting firms (34%) said that they expected to increase staff over the next quarter
• The overall volume of exports for goods fell by 3.1% compared to Q3 2013, emphasising the need for more support for exporting businesses

The British Chambers of Commerce has published new research in conjunction with DHL Express looking at the health of the UK’s export market. The BCC/DHL Trade Confidence Index, which measures both UK exporting activity and business confidence, shows that turnover confidence among exporters is now at the highest level on record (72%). Confidence was particularly strong among exporting manufacturers, with 69% believing that their turnover is likely to improve, compared with 66% last quarter.

The volume of exports for goods fell slightly this quarter – representing a decrease of 3.1% compared with Q3 2013 and 0.9% compared with the same quarter last year. Businesses are confident, but if we are to reach the government’s target of increasing exports to £1trillion by 2020, more must be done to help firms break into fast-growing markets abroad.

The key findings from the report are:

• Confidence among exporters about future turnover is at its highest level since 2007 (72%), with 69% of manufacturers expecting turnover to increase.
• More than one third of exporting firms (34%) said that they expected to increase staff over the next quarter
• Although the volume of exports in goods fell overall compared with the previous quarter, they increased for nearly half of service sector firms (47%) and for 42% of manufacturing firms in Q4 2013*
• Nearly half of exporters (46%) said their export sales increased in Q4 2013, compared to only 7% who said that they decreased
• More than half of exporters (62%) believe that their profitability will increase this year.
• The number of exporting businesses claiming that raw material costs were adding to price pressures increased from 34% to 38% in Q4 2013.

Commenting, Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, said:

“What we must take away from this research is that the confidence of our exporters is at a new high. This counts for a lot, as it shows ambition and willingness for businesses to export even more in 2014. But we can’t ignore the fact that the volume of exports were down at the end of last year. We cannot afford to sit back and expect exports to increase without dedicated hard work and support – not if we are to reach the government’s target of increasing exports to £1trillion by 2020.

“Everyone has to take responsibility and play their part – government, civil servants and business alike, so that firms can make some real in-roads in high-growth markets overseas in countries such as Mexico, Nigeria and Indonesia. We are seeing small signs of export reorientation away from Europe and North America towards some of these stronger growth regions, but there is still a lot more to do. As a nation we currently only spend 0.02% of GDP on trade support, which is nowhere near enough if we are going to rebalance our economy towards net exports.

“The Norfolk Chamber of Commerce is doing its bit, by working with overseas Chambers of Commerce and business groups in 41 countries across the globe, so that Norfolk business people have a first port of call when they step off the plane, where they can receive practical advice and support on the ground. But we must all work together if we are to compete on a global scale and put the UK at the forefront of the exporting agenda over the months and years ahead.”

Commenting on the report’s results, Phil Couchman, CEO of DHL Express UK and Ireland, said:

“Confidence is at a record high amongst exporters which shows a marked step change in attitudes compared with previous reports. Despite the fact that the overall volume of goods exported fell slightly, SMEs are feeling positive about the future. This is also reflected in the recent IMF projections for UK 2014 economic growth of 2.4%.

“Positively, there continues to be a high level of demand overseas for “Brand Britain” and newly cited emerging markets, such as the MINT (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey) countries, present great opportunities for British businesses. With the right advice, product and plan, they have the potential to succeed in these fast-growing emerging markets.

“It is important that these new levels of confidence are not lost and that British businesses have the information and support they need to succeed. To reach the Government’s target of £1trillion by 2020, we must continue to address the challenges and barriers to export.”

We are currently planning our next series of export events and are looking for local members who would like to share their knowledge and experience of exporting.

You would have the opportunity to explain how easy/hard it is to open up in a particular market, as well as provide advice and tips on what to look out for.

If you’re interested in participating please click here.

In this Chamber Session Rachael Shakespeare, Jungle PR, taught the delegates her top tips for developing their PR skills. Rachael’s colourful and fun presentation reflected her enthusiastic and clear presentation skills.

Rachael’s top tip to take-away would be to “look at PR as a strategic, long-term method of managing the reputation of your business”. Rachael thought her Session went well and her highlights were “meeting people and discussing ways to help on the PR front”.

In the first of the lunch time Chamber Sessions, Holly Stibbon, 101Smart gave delegates an energetic understanding into email marketing. Holly emphasised strongly the legal aspects behind email marketing to ensure all delegates fully understood the dos and don’ts to their email marketing. She also gave delegates top tips such as the best times to send marketing campaigns, how to target your audiences and about the more personal touches to your email marketing.

Gemma Neill, The Space, said it was a “very helpful ‘takeaway’ Session” adding that it was information she could “go back to the office and apply today!” Holly’s felt that “It was really good to see people ‘get it’. Taking the thoughts and ideas, applying to their business, asking questions and then the look on their face when they realised what they needed to do to improve. Very satisfying.”

Commenting on George Osborne’s speech to business leaders in Hong Kong, John Longworth, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said:

“George Osborne hit the nail on the head in Hong Kong when he said that Britain is not investing enough and not exporting enough. Unless our economic recovery broadens out, and companies feel confident enough to implement their growth plans both at home and overseas, it will be merely good rather than truly great.

“On export, one of his top priorities must be to properly resource Britain’s global business network, much as our key competitors do. This would ensure that UK companies have strong support and advice when they land in growing markets overseas. It is gratifying that he chose to make his speech to the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong – one of 41 business groups we are working with across the globe to ensure that British companies can get practical support when they seek to do more business in dynamic, fast-growing markets.”

Commenting on the opportunities to grow through trading internationally Caroline Williams CEO Norfolk Chamber said:

“Norfolk Chamber’s all time high level of documentation shows just how successful our Norfolk businesses are being in expanding their businesses through exporting. Working with the BCC and UKTI we have new resources available in Norfolk for businesses who feel it is time to review whether trading internationally is right for them. It is not for all businesses but you may be surprised just what opportunities are out there and well worth investigating. There is significant free resource to help Norfolk businesses take that first step, so we could encourage any forward thinking MD to at least check out what they may be missing through an email to our International Trade Director: Tracey.Howard@norfolkchamber.co.uk“