COFIDES lends SIFU €2 million to open its first trade school

The story so far, in brief; the legwork, and the full article, stay with the original outlet.

COFIDES has lent SIFU €2 million from the Fondo de Impacto Social to open the company's first trade school. The school is meant to train people with disabilities and others at risk of exclusion for jobs in high demand: professional cleaning, gardening and green-space upkeep, handling, logistics and support tasks.

The school will run across three training centres, with about 70% of the teaching done hands-on. The loan covers the setup investment, teaching materials and management systems. SIFU plans to train between 2,000 and 2,500 students in the first year and to place more than 60% of them in work.

SIFU is a special employment centre with more than 30 years behind it, over 7,000 workers and over 3,000 clients in Spain, France and Andorra. The fund, paid for by NextGenerationEU and run by COFIDES, has €400 million in total, so this is a modest slice of it.