Access to talent & skills
The availability of talent and skills remains a top priority within the founder community in Ireland. Ensuring there is an adequate pipeline of talent and skills to meet the changing demands of employment is key to Ireland retaining its competitive advantage and thriving enterprise eco systems. Securing this talent pipeline moving forward will be crucial for maintaining current FDI investment and attracting further investment in the future, be it green skills or skills to keep apace of developments in digital & AI.
Founders bring many benefits to our wider economy and society, one of the most notable being the employment opportunities their organisations create as they grow. Founder-led organisations train and nurture high-skilled talent and foster entrepreneurial mindsets. There are also benefits for industry and organisations including the cross-pollination of talent and the creation of new companies.
A sustainable talent pipeline is required to ensure that founder-led industry has access to talent needed to innovate on an ongoing basis A thriving founder-led ecosystem starts with a long-term sustainable funding model for higher education, mentoring and peer-to-peer coaching initiatives.
The digital transformation will be key to ensuring Ireland retains a leading and competitive place on the world-stage. Digitalisation of businesses of all sizes can increase efficiency and present solutions to the challenges of climate change. A skilled workforce equipped with digital proficiency is indispensable for business success in the digital age. Irish founders require access to a diverse talent pool proficient in digital skills to remain competitive. Addressing skills shortages necessitates investing in education and training programs prioritizing digital literacy, technical skills, and entrepreneurship education.
27% of our founders told us that attraction of talent was the top challenge faced by their business venture while for 70% of them, it was one of their top three challenges. It is clear more needs to be done to create a robust talent pipeline for founder led organisations to enable founders to compete with other more established businesses.
Our Recommendations:
- A commitment to unlock the National Training Fund. The NTF has the potential to enable Irish businesses to drive change through industry-led skills development. The fund will incentivise and support industry to invest in the development of skills within the labour force, enabling them to meet the ever-growing demand for talent and skills.
- Introduce a National Training Voucher Scheme. The OECD Skills Review recommends greater use of industry incentives to help dismantle the cost and time barriers associated with workforce development and lifelong learning. The introduction of a National Training Voucher scheme has the potential to boost in-company training and widen participation in upskilling and reskilling to include all businesses and employers. Based on the principle of cost reimbursement, businesses should be able to claim back expenses for training costs during the year undertaken with an accredited education and training provider. Alternatively, the voucher can be used to draw down funding to finance training leave to support businesses to engage with available skills development opportunities across further and higher education.
- Invest in developing digital skills to ensure a talent pipeline to meet future demand. Investment in the development of digital skills and digital learning proficiency within the labour force will be crucial for businesses to successfully navigate the digital transition. This will not only enable businesses to become more productive and efficient but will also foster innovative capabilities within the founder ecosystem.
- Promote and incentivise lifelong learning initiatives within the founder community. The recent OECD Review of Skills in Ireland shows that lifelong learning in Ireland falls significantly short of that in comparator countries. The development of both formal and informal lifelong learning initiatives within the founder community will play a pivotal role in ensuring continued economic success in this area.
- Invest in the development of leadership capability skills that support the entrepreneurial skills of founders. Development of targeted and impactful entrepreneur mentorship and leadership capability programmes to enhance business acumen and business growth opportunities for early career founders. Initiatives such as formal education through third-level institutions, peer-to-peer coaching, and the expansion of forums and mentoring networks offer much needed guidance from companies and individuals that have already been on their journey.