Member News

Congratulations to our incredible Norfolk Chamber members who have been nominated in The Norfolk Business Awards! These awards are brought to you by Archant who bring the county’s business community together to celebrate each other’s achievements and highlight the leaders in each industry. These awards bring Norfolk’s diverse and vibrant business community together in order to celebrate companies who are truly outstanding in their sector and honour the achievements and contributions being made to the local economy. On behalf of the entire Norfolk Chambers Team we wish you all the very best of luck! Business Person of the Year Christine Malcolm, Maid’s Head Hotel James Groves, Indigo Swan Julie Hunt, Face to Face Finance    Changing Lives Special Recoginition Award Norwich Theatre  Yellow Brick Mortgages   Customer Excellence Award Breakwater IT  R13   Disruptor of the Year Indigo Swan Liftshare Group   Education in Business Award Face to Face Finance   Employer of the Year Evander Liftshare Group   Green Business of the Year Liftshare Group Netmatters   Marketing Innovation Award PlantGrow   Scale-Up Business of the Year Netmatters Yellow Brick Mortgages   Start-Up Business of the Year Keeler Recruitment   You can view the full list of Awards and nominations here

Great Yarmouth’s famous seafront is going green over the coming weeks as the rollout of low carbon LED streetlights in Norfolk has moved to the east coast town. Work is now well underway to switch the 195 old lights along Marine Parade and nearby roads to efficient new LEDs. A total of 15,000 lights are being upgraded across the county by 2023, a figure which will add to the 22,000 lights that have already been converted to LED since 2008. This has saved 12,500 tonnes of CO2. Cllr Martin Wilby, Norfolk County Council Cabinet Member for Highways, Infrastructure and Transport, said: “Our major LED upgrade programme is one piece of the considerable work we have planned to achieve our ambitious target of becoming carbon neutral as an authority by 2030. “Replacing thousands of high energy consuming streetlights with efficient new LED lights allows us to cut carbon emissions and save money too.” For each street that is upgraded to LED lights the average percentage energy saving is about 60%. Many of the LEDs can also be controlled remotely saving on staff time and travel. The LED upgrade work links closely with the county council’s pledge to achieve net zero carbon by 2030, as part of the authority’s Environmental Policy which was adopted in November 2019. A report on the progress so far and next steps for the Environmental Policy was considered by Cabinet this morning, Monday 8 November.

A multidisciplinary team from Ashtons Legal has recently advised Camgrain Stores Limited in relation to their involvement in a new multi-million pound, state of the art, oat processing plant in Northamptonshire. The other parties involved in the creation of new entity Navara Oat Milling Limited were Frontier Agriculture Limited and Anglian Maltings (Holdings) Limited. Along with Camgrain Stores, the plant will be owned and run through the new Navara Oat Milling brand. The Kettering plant, which has already started to be constructed, will be the largest, most modern oat-processing facility in Europe. Expected to complete in 2023, it will produce oat ingredients for the food and drink industry. Advising Camgrain Stores on the venture were partners Paul Whittingham and Geoff Hazlewood from Ashtons’ Corporate and Commercial Team. They were ably assisted by partner Simon Cunningham from the firm’s top-tier Agriculture & Estates Team. Paul Whittingham said: “Myself and the team at Ashtons’ are delighted to have assisted Camgrain and their co-operative members on this exciting project which will meet the ever increasing demand for oat ingredients which we all use in our day-to-day lives.” Simon Willis, Group CEO of Camgrain Stores adds “We would like to thank, Paul, Geoff, Simon and the team at Ashtons for their professional help and guidance completing the complex legal documents requirement to conclude the Navara Oat Milling, Joint Venture Agreement. The new joint venture will see the plant built alongside our existing Camgrain Advanced Processing Centre in Northants. This is great news for our farmer members as it expands opportunities for them with an increasingly sought-after cereal grain and will involve them in projects such as the development of new varieties. It’s good to be bringing advanced technology to the UK food supply chain, adding value not just to farmers, but also to the local community.” More information about Camgrain Stores and their involvement in this project can be found by visiting https://www.camgrain.co.uk/navara-oat-milling-project-announcement

We are thrilled to be working with the exciting team at Chanty, on the redesign of their already successful website. Chanty is a team communication and team collaboration platform which allows users to collaborate seamlessly. A viable alternative to Slack and other well-known collaboration apps and platforms, Chanty have been making some exciting moves over the last few months. Having produced a range of useful and informative resources, including their productivity and work-life balance calculators, Chanty are now taking their website to new levels. What We Are Working on With Chanty We have been working on the Chanty website for a few months and have been improving their search engine optimisation (SEO) and user engagements through a variety of means and methods, all of which are starting to slowly take effect, having a positive effect on the rankings and engagement of users on the Chanty website. Website Crawling – First and foremost, we have been working on making sure that the ‘crawling factors’ of the website, i.e., the technical SEO ranking factors are up to date and fully optimised. This has included taking care of, fixing and optimising elements of the website, including:

• Meta titles and meta descriptions
• Page titles and headings
• Response codes
• Website architecture

Online PR Opportunities – A fundamental part of any SEO campaign and project are the online PR opportunities that any brand and website can garner. Thus, we have been working hard to get Chanty’s brand, messaging and name out to the relevant masses online, to ensure their brand gets the wide exposure it requires and deserves. Website Content – Another key tenet of a successful SEO campaign is the content that lives and sits on any given website. In the case of Chanty, this has meant working with their fabulous copywriting and content team to ensure that all content, from blogs to core page content and all in between, allowing more good content to rank and get found as necessary by Google and other search engines. Page Designs – Page design and user experience (UX) is an important part of SEO and thus, we have been working with the design and development teams at Chanty to ensure all new page designs are reflective of best SEO practices as well as user experience practices.

Paul has competed in two of the most competitive industries in the world: elite sport, and performance psychology. Paul played professional football at Premier League level, for both Tottenham Hotspur and Norwich City FC. He realised though, early on in his career, that whilst he knew he wanted to play football, he also had a time limit on his career. This realisation sparked a career in his other passion—psychology. Paul is now a qualified psychologist; published author of ‘The Stupid Footballer is Dead’; and motivational speaker. He works worldwide, with companies such as Microsoft and Aviva, on performance psychology, the power of our beliefs, and how they form and get in the way of our success in business. Paul chats to James and Mark about the ‘growth mindset’ that’s needed in business. They discuss how improvement and progression only come from a certain type of mindset, and hinges on how you approach a situation, and then deal with it. They talk in depth about the power of beliefs. If we all spent time unpacking our beliefs, we’d realise just how many negative ones we have, and how much they get in our way! Paul also gives fascinating insight into what it takes mentally to play at the highest level of the beautiful game, and the imposter syndrome that can come with it, and how he came to realise that his Belfast accent was not a barrier after all! If you are enjoying the series, we would really appreciate it if you could follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or wherever else you get your podcasts! You can also find all episodes on our website www.larking-gowen.co.uk/IBC If you have feedback, questions or think you might be a great guest on the podcast, please get in touch! Email the team at podcasts@larking-gowen.co.uk Show notes: Contact Paul at: paulmcveigh.co.uk LinkedIn Mentioned books: The Stupid Footballer is Dead Man’s Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust Robert Dilts Awaken The Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Life Top tips: Tip 1 – Belief systems and reaching goals skip to 38:30 Tip 2 – Internal and external locus of control skip to 41:00 Tip 3 – Identity – transitioning from footballer to business psychologist skip to 38:30 Listen here!

Successful business-to-business (B2B) marketing agency Full Mix Marketing has expanded their team by welcoming experienced marketer, Karina Zimmermann. Karina joins the team with over 11 years’ experience gained delivering marketing for one of Norfolk’s most iconic businesses, Bernard Matthews Foods. “From strategy to digital marketing, I’m so keen to apply my skills in such a fantastic new environment. It’s slightly different to marketing Turkey Dinosaurs but the fundamentals are the same! It’s about delivering effective marketing which really communicates to our client’s customers” says Karina of her new role. Originally from Koblenz in Germany, Karina arrived in the UK as a teenager partly through the German city’s twinning with Norwich and went on to study business management at the University of East Anglia. In over a decade as Marketing Manager for Bernard Matthews, Karina led many significant projects including two rebrands, nationwide multi-channel advertising campaigns and a number of packaging redesigns. Karina’s new role at Full Mix Marketing sees her swap the leading brand of turkey-based family foods for a wide range of clients in sectors as varied as flow chemistry equipment, intellectual property law and lorry tension curtains. Karina adds: “Having taken a break to have my daughters, I’m eager to rekindle my love for marketing. I can’t wait to make a positive difference in the team that has already made me feel so welcome!” Full Mix Marketing has become East Anglia’s leading B2B marketing agency, delivering strategic, digital and creative marketing for a growing number of clients across the region and beyond. The agency often acts as another business’ marketing department, delivering a comprehensive range of marketing including strategy, PR, website development and social media. “Karina joins us with a wealth of experience, gained in a large and well-respected company. We can already see the big benefits it will deliver our clients” says Full Mix Marketing’s Managing Director, Sarah West. Karina is the third member of Full Mix Marketing’s growing team to have been born outside the UK. “The great benefit of a diverse team is that it provides different perspectives. It undoubtedly makes us even more effective at delivering the best results through marketing for our clients” concludes Sarah. Having moved to larger city-centre offices in 2020, Full Mix Marketing now has a team of seven and has recently doubled its number of clients, many of which have worked with the agency since it began in 2016. Karina’s role as Marketing Executive sees her take responsibility for delivering key aspects of marketing for clients including the UK’s largest supplier of gift cards, the designers of innovative new cleaning technology and one of the country’s leading contract electronics manufacturers. More details of Full Mix Marketing can be found at: https://www.fullmixmarketing.co.uk/

In this weeks Impromptu Business Chat, James and Mark share the time management difficulties they’re encountering as they return to face-to-face meetings. Many people are, for the first time, managing their workloads and diaries with a mix of face-to-face and virtual meetings, placing new challenges and stresses. How do you overcome this? As usual, James and Mark come up with 3 top tips, cross-referring to musical links whenever they can! If you are enjoying the series, we would really appreciate it if you could follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, or wherever else you get your podcasts! If you have feedback, questions or think you might be a great guest on the podcast, please get in touch! Email the team at podcasts@larking-gowen.co.uk   Listen here!

Thomas Paine Hoteliers Gez and Rosy Chetal celebrated 8 years of owning their hotel on 31st July. During their celebration which included an Indian Buffet for their guests, they raised valuable funds for local and national charities. Gez said “We raised a total of £1676.00, with £1466.00 going to New U Enterprises and Athena Eduction and my daughter had her haircut for the first time in 16 years and she raised £211.00 which was donated to the princess trust as well as 18 inches of her haircut. Our charity events have always been hosted by Ricky Groves ex eastenders star and he will again be hosting our next charity event on November 20th. Since we have bought the hotel we have donated over £40k to local charities which makes us proud that we have achieved this with local support” They are really looking forward to their Bond themed Charity Casino Night on the 20th November 2021 – tickets are available by contacting the hotel on 01842 750372

Chief Executive of accountancy training firm First Intuition, Gareth John, has commended the government for their plans to extend the apprenticeship incentive scheme and thereby support more career opportunities for young people at a time when they need all the help they can get. In his Autumn budget statement Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged increased apprenticeship funding in England to £2.7 billion by 2024-25, this is on top of an extension to help and support employers who recruit apprentices. The government confirmed that employers who recruit apprentices between 1 October 2021 and 31 January 2022 are entitled to incentive payments of £3,000 per eligible learner. This is the second extension to the financial incentives offered to businesses who take advantage of the wide range of benefits of using apprenticeship programmes to develop and retain talent. Speaking about how the scheme has helped young adults into work since it was first implemented in early 2020, Gareth John said: “The first round of apprenticeship incentives offered during 2020 and early 2021 did a great job of giving employers of accountants the confidence to continue with their entry-level recruitment plans during a period when they were balancing increased workloads with high levels of economic uncertainty. This recruitment has really helped them with resourcing rising demand now that the economic recovery is in full swing.” Furthermore, Gareth talks about how the extension and increase to the incentives in early 2021, prompted by the ongoing pandemic, has had an even more positive impact: “Given the growing difficulties employers in the accountancy and finance sector have been experiencing retaining talent, the extension and increase of the incentives for new apprentice hires through to 30 September 2021 was extremely welcome. It seems clear that at a time when a cohort of young adults leaving education needed as much support as possible in securing their first professional roles the increased incentives stimulated a record number of entry-level vacancies. Well done to the Chancellor for this well-targeted and timely support for job creation!” Employers are reminded that those who recruited apprentices between 1 April 2021 and 30 September 2021 and who will have started their apprenticeship programmes by 30 November 2021 need to apply for their incentive payments via the Apprenticeship Service by 30th November 2021. In the Autumn 2021 Budget the Chancellor confirmed a further extension to the apprenticeship incentive scheme which is likely to prompt further recruitment. Employers will be eligible for a payment of £3,000 per apprentice with an employment start date from 1 October 2021 to 31 January 2022. Applications will open via the Apprenticeship Service on 11 January 2022 and close on 15 May 2022. Gareth comments on this further extension to the scheme: “After seeing first-hand the beneficial impact that the previous two phases of apprenticeship incentives have had on employment opportunities being offered to young adults, it is great to hear the Chancellor has used the Autumn budget to further extend these incentives to the end of January 2022. On top of record intakes of new accountancy trainees being taken on this Autumn I already know of a number of firms whose continued workload growth is now driving a second intake in early 2022. Even more great career opportunities available for even more ambitious individuals.”

In last week’s Cabinet Office meeting with the Paymaster-General Michael Ellis on consumer goods for UK-EU trade, The Chamber raised issues including:   • the situation from 1 January 2022 when easements on proof of origin certification expire; • cross-border VAT, and • the future of CE marked goods, parts and components in the GB market.   The latest version of the Border Operating Model (with details on inbound GB controls) is due for release in a fortnight. Mr Ellis has asked business to send case studies of the current situation they face on EU trade   The UK and US have resolved their differences on digital services taxes (DSTs) in an agreement also involving Italy, Spain, France and Austria. This means that the risk of tariffs, of up to 25%, being applied to UK goods exported to the US has been lifted for at least two years, while more progress is made implementing a global deal on DSTs. See our response on this issue which we raised with the Department for International Trade (DIT).   G7 Trade Ministers adopted principles on digital trade at their meeting late last week. The proposals on data flows are business- and trade-friendly, but Ministers committed to accelerate the progress towards digitalisation of trade documentation   Further progress is being made on implementing the deal on domestic regulation in trade in services by more than 60 countries at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ahead of the Ministerial Conference at the end of November. States have begun to make the changes to their services schedules in Geneva, giving effect to the deal which cuts red tape on services exports

Layrd Design are giving away a free review of your current interior space plus a detailed plan of how to improve this in the future. Win a professional review of your commercial space, this could be an office, shop, hotel, gym, café or any commercial interior space. We will study the current layout, analyse how effectively it works, how it makes the customer/user feel, if the lighting is utilised, if the finishes consistently represent the brand. We will then develop a plan for you to implement various changes in the space to make the maximum input and give the space a refresh and updated feel.

WHAT YOU COULD WIN

Initial consultation meeting at your workspace.

Site Survey by the Layrd Design team

Review document, looking at the:

– Look and Feel

– User Experience

– Lighting

– Consistent Design

– Colours

– Furniture

– Materials

Future Plan Document which details changes and alterations you could make to improve your space in the future.

Read more about this in the link below and find out how to enter. https://www.layrddesign.co.uk/competition  

We are very pleased to announce that, following our journey over the last several months working with ORE Catapult as part of the New Anglia cohort, Proeon are one of 4 companies who have achieved Fit for Offshore Renewables  (F4OR) “Granted” status. Proeon was among 15 companies selected to participate in the latest regional programme. We were accepted onto the programme due to the company’s desire to further increase our capability, competence and competitiveness, and accelerate growth in the offshore renewable energy industry. Proeon took part in the Fit 4 Offshore Renewables (F4OR) programme to improve its knowledge and understanding of the offshore renewables sector and its points of difference to other sectors the company currently operates within.  This allows the company to identify how transferrable its current skillset and offerings are to this new sector and enable it to grow a share of the market within its sphere of operations. The company was assessed over two phases of the F4OR programme – the first industry-agnostic Business Excellence phase focused on core business management systems and the second Sector-Specific phase focused on key competencies required for success in the offshore renewable energy industry. In the Sector-Specific phase, areas identified for improvement were related to its understanding of the industry sector itself, specific HSEQ requirements, how to converse in the language of the sector and where to look for relevant information, portals to join to gain access to potential work. The programme has enabled Proeon to identify how transferrable its current skillset and offerings are to the offshore wind sector and has allowed them to develop relationships with other likeminded organisations.  Dr Dorian Hindmarsh, Business Development Manager at Proeon, said: “We believe F4OR “Granted” status is a benchmark of our continued development into the Renewables sector and will act as an enabler for future business, continuous improvement and support our drive into a low carbon future”. Andrew Stormonth-Darling, ORE Catapult’s F4OR Programme Manager said: “It’s a pleasure to see another set of impressive companies join the ever-growing community of those with F4OR granted status. Over the last 12 months, these companies have benefitted from being part of a cohort, increasing their industry engagement, growing their confidence, raising their profile and their market awareness. They have developed new relationships, technologies, capabilities and experiences, adding value to the UK supply chain. Completing the programme also ensures that the positive culture of continuous improvement is embedded and sustained long term. I wish these five companies well in the coming months and hope that they will  reap the rewards from their new ‘Granted’ status.” The list of New Anglia Cohort F4OR companies achieving “Granted” status is on the ORE Catapult website: https://ore.catapult.org.uk/press-releases/five-uk-businesses-achieve-fit-4-offshore-renewables-granted-status-business-inprovement-programme/