Electrical Distributors’ Association shines a spotlight on education and training stars

Twenty-four EDA awards, recognising outstanding achievement in education and training across the UK’s electrical wholesale sector, have been presented at two glittering ceremonies.

Twelve managers received EDA Investor in Training Awards at the Association’s Annual Dinner in front of over 550 guests at the InterContintental Hotel on London’s Park Lane on Thursday 9 March 2017. The next day family, friends and colleagues gathered for a congratulatory lunch on the 34^th floor of London’s iconic Shard to see 12 high-performing apprentices and employees collect EDA Learner Achievement Awards, as part of the EDA’s National Apprenticeship Week 2017 celebrations.

The winners, who travelled to London from across the UK, received their trophies from new EDA President Simon Barkes, who said: “Business success depends on inspirational managers who can create the right environment for talent to flourish. Equally, their apprentices and employees need to recognise the opportunities on offer and work hard to achieve outstanding results.

“Education and training is a key pillar of the EDA’s work and it is a privilege to celebrate the positive difference that we can create for individuals, teams and businesses. Attracting new talent throughout the supply chain is essential and, for the first time since our EDA Learner Awards were launched 3 years ago, one of the apprentice winners comes from a manufacturer – Electrium Sales (A Siemens Company).”

Commitment

The EDA Investor in Training Awards acknowledge the support, commitment, and leadership of managers in one of two categories: apprenticeships, helping to attract new talent to the electrical wholesale sector, and the Specialist Product Knowledge Programme, a distance-learning initiative designed to improve employee skills and performance.

The EDA Learner Achievement Awards were presented to five apprentices, whose hard work and dedication to their training marked them out as rising stars in the sector, and to seven employees who have shown exemplary performance and dedication to their professional studies as part of EDA’s Specialist Product Knowledge Programme.

Margaret Fitzsimons, EDA Director, said: “The EDA is committed to developing a clear career pathway for the sector through a framework of life-long education and training.

“Our celebrations help us to raise the profile of career opportunities in the electrical wholesale sector and underline the investment that the sector is making in employee learning and development. Building talented teams is not easy, but our winners are a real credit to the sector and their businesses.”