European Global Fund (EGF)

European Global Fund (EGF)

SQT Training was one of many Training organisations that participated in a 2 day event organised by FAS, at the South Court Hotel, Limerick, to provide training options for people recently made unemployed by Dell, Banta and a few other local companies.

The European Global Fund (EGF) is a fund of approx €22m that has been secured to provide further training to this specific group of unemployed in the Munster region, to help them get up-skilled and so better prepared to re-enter the workforce. Hopefully the event will be quickly followed up by real action by all parties involved and specific training plans identified and funded, for all those that so eagerly attended the event looking for answers.

We met some lovely people on the day, many old faces from my days in Dell and all very anxious to get back to work as quickly as possible. The following are some photos from the day.

Aishling ready for visitors to our stand.

Because we are fans of “The Apprentice”, we saw how doing something different is important to get noticed in a large hall, so team member Aishling got to work and sourced 50 balloons to create a bit of colour and fun. Here is Eamon our Six Sigma tutor surrounded by the new SQT balloons.

The balloons did the trick and were a big hit … but it didn’t take long before a child that attended the event with her parents, spotted these colourful objects and naturally, wanted one.

So we kindly gave her one and made the child happy.

But then along came another child …

And another child …

Now unfortunately balloons rise so it didn’t take long before little Harry lost his …

And did not look a happy camper at all, at all.

The good news is that he got another one, this time tied to his trousers and so guaranteed not to disappear until he actually wanted it to!!!! And so the event ended on a happy note (for the kids at least).

This special fund is a fantastic opportunity for Munster and badly needed. We were very happy to be a part of it but more importantly it’s our hope that the delegates that attended quickly receive the approval they await to start the next phase of their lives and hopefully make new dreams happen. We wish them all the very best of luck.