It’s been an absolutely cracking week here at AllSkills Education, filled with the kind of moments that remind, or teach, us exactly why we do what we do. From interactive workshops to meaningful events, the past few days have highlighted the incredible spirit and resilience we encounter across Ireland.
Learning and Sharing Across Communities
The week kicked off in Longford, where we held our second class at Longford Women's Link. Every time, I'm genuinely struck by the wealth of knowledge and the incredible generosity of spirit in the room. It’s a real joy to see women sharing and learning from each other in such a supportive environment.
Mid-week brought us to Enniskillen for the launch of Equoria XP, a groundbreaking initiative by Shelley Cowan that aims to make travel and experiences truly inclusive and accessible for everyone. It was an impactful and moving event, underscoring the importance of accessibility for all. What an honour to speak on the tech inclusivity panel chaired by Máirín Murray of TechFoundHer.
Thursday was a busy one, starting with an opportunity to speak as a financial literacy panelist for the CFA Society. The discussions there were lively and engaging, answering the essential question of 'why is financial literacy important?' - and the answer is that society has changed hugely in the 35+ years since I started my first professional job.
It is rare now to remain with a single employer longer than 10 years (a quarter of our careers); employers no longer hold the 'lifetime duty of care', defined benefit pension schemes are closed, and holistic care across all stages of a employee life stages is no longer top priority for an organisation's HR team (who are themselves frequently outsourced 'business partners').
Responsibility for financial wellbeing sits firmly with each individual. We aren't trained to anticipate lifestages - such as the extreme challenges faced by many families on the arrival of a 2nd child, where logistics and cost often see one partner withdraw from the workplace, while the family needs to maintain housing security through expensive mortgage payments.
As individuals, we exist in an increasasingly digital world where financial transactions happen quickly, with less time to think process information. We are increasingly at risk from frauds and scams, and short-term focus can leave people at bad debt risk. As you can see, I (Deirdre) had plenty of opinions to share at the CFA panel!
Later that day, we held a Women, Money & Place workshop with Helena Dilleen for the women of Fatima Groups United (photo above of the creative element led by Helena Dilleen of Giddy Studios). Again, the respect and admiration for these inspirational women in the room was palpable. It's eye-opening as the day evolved from a wealth-management to a self-made focus. It's easy to assume in Ireland, with our 'invisible' class system, that good money management is the preserve of the most well-off.
I learned that's not always the case, the better-off can definitely afford better advice, but good money habits are inculcated from a young age, by watching and learning from the behaviours in our own famiilies and thinking about how we want to shape our lives. And a couple of adages hold true across all sectors of society:
'Money makes money': once you establish a cashflow or income source, you can use this as leverage to access assets.
'Cash is king': In our digital society we forget that every card tap costs us (uness we have free bank fees) and costs the retailer (who pays transaction charges per electronic payment). This leads to silent inflation where the retailers increase prices to reflect these tx charges. Cash has value in society, ad a healthy society respects the value of cash.
'Neither a borrower or a lender be': Well definitely avoid being a borrower - even looking at installment payments for car or health insurance renewals, there can be 20% price difference between 'pay up front' and monthly payments. However I did hear one very inspiring story of a grandmother, widowed young, who, with some philanthropic seed capital, brought micro lending into the community, which uplifted the locality.
Thursday ended with the Guinness Enterprise Centre's rescheduled summer party, in the lovely tropicsl Bakehouse Cafe. My human detective instincts were honed with some 'human bingo' requiring us to find 15 people with certain talents 'can do a cartwheel', 'has run a marathon', 'is keeping up to date ith Traitors Ireland'. Thankfully, live demos were not required.
Practical Wisdom in Action
Friday brought us to Callan, County Kilkenny, for our first women's financial literacy session there. We had a real gem in the room – a financial wizard, no less! She showed us all how even small, practical steps, without the need for a massive budget, can significantly boost one's quality of life. Again, it’s a powerful reminder that financial empowerment is within everyone’s reach.
A Nod to Our Hard Work
The week wrapped up on a high note at the Network Ireland awards ceremony in Galway. While awards are certainly not the be-all and end-all, they do offer a lovely bit of recognition for the hard graft. Carlow did us proud with Shannon Kearney winning Emerging Businesswoman, and I was delighted to be awarded Highly Commended in the Networking category. It’s a wonderful acknowledgement of the effort we put into building connections and mentoring, and making financial navigation much more accessible for women and families.
I also met one of my (s)heroes, Maria Walsh, who is a great voice for women, entrepreneurship and farming.
What's Next?
As we look ahead, we’ll be back to the 'knitting' next week, with roving financial literacy workshops planned for four Waterford city and county libraries. We’ll also be bookending the week with more sessions in Longford and Kilkenny. The energy and engagement we see in these communities fuel our passion and learning which gets built into the FLIT Financial Literacy project, and we're excited to continue our work, connecting with and empowering more people across Ireland.
Behind all this public activity, Stephen Winters and I are steadily growing the FLIT platform, running 2-weekly sprints which keep the tech development going.
And of course, we will be in the GEC during the week keeping our Smart D8 entrepreneur and community links going, and welcoming TechFoundHer Build Club Weds 12-2 with the amazing Kello Vero - games, digital and punk entrepreneur!
(This all looks very snazzy and well-connected when assembled in a post. The realities of life see me hoovering out the car and re-planting a lawn at the weekend. Public activity is not a true reflection of real ife. However I am very glad that financial literacy in Ireland and beyond is genuinely moving mainstream and that realisation is dawning that its for everyone, not just those who are wealthy today).
references: FLIT Upcoming workshops, Women, Money & Place workshops