InspireIntroduction
From the Chief Executive Inspiring Hertfordshire Awards May I start by saying a huge thank you to everyone who supported our third year of the Inspiring Hertfordshire Awards, with almost 400 attendees it was a glittering evening showcasing Hertfordshire’s power house and world class centres of excellence, held at the Porsche Centre Hatfield. Particular thanks to our headline sponsor, the University of Hertfordshire and to our award sponsors: Porsche, Kiss, Breeze & Wyles, Aldwyck Housing Group, North Hertfordshire College, ServerChoice, Broxbourne Borough Council, Stevenage Borough Council, Affinity Water, Dacorum Look no further, Lloyds Bank, Youth Connexions. More about this on page 26. You can also see video highlights on our new website. We hope many of the entrants will go on to enjoy a success filled year and will optimise the publicity to win new business, attract more talent, grow productivity and hopefully reach new markets both locally and Internationally.
Training We have recently launched some affordable training this year to help grow talent and up skill our members in key areas to drive performance of individuals and teams. Please see website for full details.
International Trading May was a good month for exporting activity, particularly compared with May 2013, with an increase of 24 per cent in electronic certificates for Chamber businesses, representing £10.2m worth of goods. We are teaming with Luton and Bedfordshire Chambers in September to run a Trading with Turkey event and we’re pursuing similar opportunities around the county to share exporting experiences, working with UKTI.
Recovery brings war on talent As we come out of the recession, the labour market has strengthened, unemployment has fallen by over 161,000 in the three months to April, down from 7.2% to 6.6% but this presents even more challenges for skills for Hertfordshire businesses. As an ambassador for the National Apprenticeships Service (NAS) and a judge on both Young Enterprise and NAS regional awards, it is evident that we have a long way to go in promoting the benefits of an ‘earn while you learn’ culture and business sponsored degrees to parents and school leavers. There is still some way to go in showcasing the centres of excellence in the County who have fine tuned their
apprenticeships into their talent pipeline, as a catalyst to growth in developing the next generation of business leaders, across our key need sectors in STEM (science technology engineering and maths), tourism, construction etc.
Tourism Last month saw a strong focus on visiting members in the tourism partnership and sponsoring and supporting exciting key events in the County from the Stage 5 of the Women’s Tour, on 12 May at the finishing line in Welwyn Garden City, to the annual County show. At both events our team were out in force, braving the elements!
Forums update
planned for Spring 2015.
We thank Longmore Solicitors who ran a session on flexible time regulations for our HR Forum in May. We have an upcoming Manufacturing and Engineering Forum being planned and will let members know of future forum meetings.
Engineering and manufacturing, we will be publishing our future agenda for roundtable discussions and debates including tours of other members’ sites, if you would like to be involved in this sector forum, please contact Sulinaodwong@hertschamber.com
This month our Environmental Forum held a steering group meeting to discuss the future strategic direction and agreeing the actions to increase its engagement amongst sector based businesses and the support it can offer to organisations wishing to reduce its carbon emissions and costs. A summit is being
Our new website will be going live within the month and will continue to evolve in how it strengthens its reach to increase its relevance to our members. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss how the Chamber can support your growth both locally and globally, through our connect collaborate and grow strategy.
Information Editorial and General Enquiries Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce MacLaurin Building, 4 Bishops Square, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9NE Tel: 01707 398400 Fax: 01707 398430 Email: enquiries@hertschamber.com Web: www.hertschamber.com Chief Executive: Yolanda Rugg Publisher Ian Fletcher Benham Publishing 3tc House, 16 Crosby Road North, Crosby, Liverpool L22 0NY Tel: 0151 236 4141 Fax: 0151 236 0440 Email: admin@benhampublishing.com Web: www.benhampublishing.com Published July 2014 © Benham Publishing and Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce. Advertising and Features Karen Hall Tel: 0151 236 4141 Email: karen@benhampublishing.com
Contents Production Manager Fern Badman Tel: 0151 236 4141 Email: studio@benhampublishing.com Media No. 1390 Disclaimer Inspire is published for Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce and is distributed without charge to Chamber members. All correspondence should be addressed to Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce. Views expressed in Inspire are not necessarily those of Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce. Reprinting in whole or part is forbidden except by permission. © 2014. Please note that submitting an article does not guarantee publication. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of material published in this journal, Benham Publishing and its agents can accept no responsibility for the veracity of claims made by contributions in advertising or editorial content. Benham Publishing cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in web or email links supplied to us.
Up Front 4-13 Herts Growth Hub 17 24 Hours 18 Spotlight on... 20-22 International Trade 23-25 Inspiring Herts 26-28 Big Interview 30-31 New Members 35 Business News 29-49 Forum News 38-39 Women in Leadership 40-41 Chamber Policy 42-43 Chamber Chatter 44-45 Chamber Events 46-47 Member Spotlight 48-49 Last Word 50 Member Benefits 51
INSPIRE
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