We submitted a presentation entitled 2006 — A Remarkable Year, related to the annual report, which we also submitted to the committee.
We secured an extra 45% in funding from the Department towards the end of the year, some of which was earmarked for special projects. FÁS has been of great support, particularly with our training and management development programmes. We collected a large amount of fees from small and medium size enterprises and also got involved in a European project.
The services in the city are in great demand. We find it difficult to keep up with demand and have to take various measures to cope. There is a lot of demand related to starting, developing and supporting businesses. We organised and expanded a new range of management skills programmes during 2006, which we further developed in 2007 and 2008. Our mentoring services, which are incredibly popular, were up by 17% overall during the year and they continue to grow. We approved almost €1 million in financial assistance, almost €425,000 of which is refundable. In that way, the money returns to our coffers and is recycled. In total, 63 projects were approved, which led to the creation of 137 jobs.
In terms of our soft skills supports, such as management training and mentoring, it is very hard to quantify the number of jobs that would be created through the provision of those services. However, we get incredibly positive feedback from clients who very often tell us that the supports they received or the advice given by mentors made an enormous difference in terms of them employing larger numbers of people. It is very hard to quantify the value of such supports, but they are significant nonetheless.
In terms of promoting an enterprise culture, as referred to by Mr. Patrick Lynch, training was very important. Approximately 800 people attended training courses, most of whom were owner-managers or people who were starting a business. The 2006 figure is a significant increase on 2005 and in 2007 we trained approximately 1,000 people, which is an increase of 20%. We have a training programme for 2008 which I will outline later.
We received an additional €20,000 towards the schools programme, which involved 23 schools and almost 2,000 pupils engaging with the schools enterprise awards and the enterprise encounter programme, in which there were 207 individual projects. The latter programme is very important for the development of entrepreneurship and getting the message across to schoolchildren that enterprise is an option for them. We also work with an organisation called Nifty, which deals with some of the disadvantaged schools in the Dublin area.
At third level we also organised a programme called enterprise encounter, which involved several role-model entrepreneurs, including Mr. Denis O'Brien, Mr. Brodie Sweeney and Mr. Bill Cullen, among others. That programme also helps to encourage entrepreneurship.
In terms of advice, information and mentoring, the office received in excess of 3,000 inquiries by telephone, e-mail and so on. We usually try to signal to clients where to go to find the necessary information. We introduced and redeveloped our website during 2006. We aimed to make it operate like an additional member of staff, which was a good way to approach it. We automated many of our bookings and provided a lot more information on the web, which has improved our throughput of work. We were able to divert many of our facilities to the website.
We produced six newsletters to inform the target market. We launched our e-zine, which is sent out every two weeks. In 2006 there were 182 mentoring assignments, an increase of 17%. I must highlight the fact that the Dublin board has only five members of staff, which when one considers the population, means we are underrepresented in terms of resources and staff. This puts additional pressure on those working in the Dublin office.
In terms of management development, FÁS has been of enormous assistance and supported our 2006 and 2007 training programmes. We are currently working on the programme for 2008. There has been some talk of cutbacks and the situation for 2009 is uncertain. We do not know how things will develop but at the moment, the demand exists for training and we certainly could be providing more. However, we are looking at the possibility of cutting back on management development training in this calendar year.
Incredible demand exists for assistance in terms of starting one's own business and we are continually adding additional programmes. In 2006 we conducted 12 start your own business programmes and this year we have organised 14 such programmes, which are already completely booked out until April. That gives members some idea of the level of demand in this area.
We have a full range of management skills programmes which we are constantly reviewing and developing in terms of adding additional topics and new ways to support business. We also have a range of training modules, which act almost like a pick and mix of various topics, as referred to in our report. Today, for example, our sales and selling programme is booked out, with 27 participants. Two weeks ago, we conducted a module on tax, which was also oversubscribed, with 30 participants.
We have a range of support networks which are targeted at different sectors. Such networks are incredibly important because they support business people and remove their isolation by providing them with information, advice and peer support. One of the key networks in operation is the Plato network, which is for those in business for three years or more, with three employees or more. It is a very successful programme and participants invariably give us positive feedback. The Women in Business network has grown substantially in recent years. Last year 120 women signed up for it. We also launched the Bright network, which is a Skillnets funded programme aimed at ICT companies, which often have a particular difficulty commercialising their businesses. Last year we launched a new network called Link because we found that those coming out of the start-up phase did not have anywhere to go and were becoming isolated. The Link network supports businesses during the phase between start-up and growth.
We will be involved in a new programme along the M1 corridor in conjunction with Fingal and Louth to support manufacturing companies, as the city's decline in the manufacturing sector is noticeable. Handy Baby was the overall winner of our awards, while the winner last year was the world street festival. The female entrepreneur award went to 3Q Catering, while the winner this year was Cush 'n Shade, which received funding on the "Dragon's Den" programme.
We get involved in exhibitions and events. In 2006, we sent nine clients to an ICT exhibition in Hong Kong, tying in with the business related initiative for technology-based enterprises, BRITE, programme. As a result, some people have succeeded in doing business in China. We support Dublin fashion week, as it is important to support the growing fashion and crafts sector. We are involved in the SHOP exhibition at the RDS for food companies. I have addressed the matter of financial assistance, but we awarded approximately €1 million in supports. I stated how many jobs have been created and we introduced website and export supports during the year. We focused on commercialisation of the 36 websites instead of using them as brochure catalogues. Some 19 export grants were issued for people to attend trade shows or to go abroad in their export attempts.
On the issue of costs, in terms of giving financial assistance, the consumer price index is an important issue that we would like to highlight. We will do anything we can to get a grip on the situation because we are competing internationally.
