Building a bottom-up 'task force' for Dell, Limerick.

Image via WikipediaChris Byrne and Evert Bopp have come up with the idea to offer free start-up advice to Dell Limerick employees affected by the job losses announced last week. In a post to OpenCoffee Limerick Evert says -

"I do think this does not neccesarilly has to be all bad. In pure practical terms this leads to 1900 people with up to 1 years salary paid into their bank account. Quite a few of these people will have skills that are still marketable and that could be turned into a profitable business. All they need is the right support and mentoring. While state development agencies such as the County Enterprise Boards, Enterprise Ireland the IDA etc. have a role to play here I am convinced that the Open Coffee Club can play a valuable part in this process."

That might seem like cold comfort to those who are facing an uncertain future right now but I'm very hopeful that Limerick can emerge out of this situation in a stronger economic position, as did Galway some years after the implosion of Digital Corporation in that city (where there are now more people employed by companies setup by those who lost their jobs at the time than there ever were in Digital).

I hate the term 'task force', which inevitably gets trotted out by politicians and others who've been dazzled in the headlights, but I think there's a role for Limerick-based entrepreneurs to play in creating a bottom-up 'task force' which can offer real help to people who want to create the kind of enterprises which will generate long-term employment and not get offshored at the hint of another economic downturn.

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