Caroline Williams, chief executive, at the Chamber of Trade's B2B networking event at Carrow Road. Photo: Bill Smith

Is time moving faster this year than usual? Obviously it is not, but lots of people have expressed surprise to me about how quickly January seems to be passing. Usually time drags when things are going badly, so does that mean that Norfolk businesses are feeling buoyant?

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

  Send link

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

As the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce membership includes businesses across all sizes and sectors, their feedback is a good barometer as to how the overall Norfolk business community is feeling.

The British Chambers of Commerce’s quarterly economic survey, which includes Norfolk members, asked a number of key questions about current and expected business prospects.

Q4 results indicated that Norfolk businesses are faring better than the UK as a whole in many areas, and are generally feeling more confidence about the future.

Norfolk Chamber’s theme for 2012 is ‘Unlocking Growth’ which was kicked off at our business conference in December, when business leaders and the secretary of state Vince Cable identified what they felt the opportunities were for 2012.

The key enabling factors to unlocking growth, which locally we have some control over and I exclude the world’s economy from this list, are infrastructure, skills and supply-chain development.

After much work and lobbying from business and the public sector, the A11 work has been started, funding for the NDR took another step forward and better broadband is getting closer. Skills shortages are trickier to solve, but as businesses we can support our schools and make use of the new funding coming through the system to businesses to help employ and train our young people.

It is difficult to get most businesses excited about infrastructure and skills – we just want them to be better and quickly. However, what is currently exciting businesses are the supply-chain opportunities which are emerging in Norfolk. Many of our larger Norfolk businesses and public bodies are looking more actively to source from local suppliers.

It makes good business sense for them, with the additional advantage of improving their green credentials when buying locally. New opportunities are also being created through the energy sector and through capital projects being delivered, for example NRP. Businesses will be able to directly access many of these buyers at the Opportunities 2012 event in March.

Norfolk has more than 30,000 businesses and 85pc employ less than 10 people, so they rely on being part of a supply chain. There is no doubt that business as a whole is being more cautious about the future and the debate on access to finance is delaying many companies investing in their businesses, which can slow down the need for additional orders and suppliers.

But the Norfolk companies who will rise to the current challenging economic situation will be the ones open to new ideas, get out there and network, are willing to take risks and recognise where they need to improve their own skills.

There will be exciting opportunities for Norfolk businesses during 2012 – ensure you unlock your own growth!

Caroline Williams is chief executive of Norfolk Chamber of Commerce