More than 1,000 people have joined Mingel – now Welcome Hub is ready for the next step

The partner breakfast at Haugesund Sparebank Arena on September 2 brought together businesses and other members of the Talentsamarbeidet partnership. This time, the focus was on the experiences from the first eight months of Welcome Hub Haugalandet.

Karianne Ellefsen and Veslemøy Heggen from Haugaland Vekst presented the results so far – along with some of the stories behind the numbers.

Mingel proves a success

Welcome Hub Haugalandet was officially launched on January 13. The regional welcome service aims to make it easier for Norwegian and international newcomers to settle into life in the Haugalandet region.

Its services include practical information, social meeting places, language support, job assistance and mentoring programmes.

As of August 24, a total of 1,075 participants had attended 46 Mingel events. Regular Mingel events have attracted 475 participants, Singel-Mingel 325, Fotball-Mingel – organised in cooperation with Haugar – 195, and Kaffe-Mingel 80.

“There are already a great many excellent activities and services available. If people want to get involved, we can be a channel that makes it easier for them to discover everything that is going on,” Ellefsen and Heggen said.

The aim is not for Welcome Hub to do everything itself. An important part of its work is connecting newcomers with existing activities, organisations, meeting places and people across the region.

Learning the language

Behind the participation figures are also the stories of people trying to build a new life in Haugalandet.

During the partner breakfast, Lal Nabi and Abdelrahman Elshawadfy shared their experiences as international students and jobseekers in Haugesund.

Elshawadfy attended his first Mingel event on only his second day in Norway. At the time, he did not know anyone.

“After that, I waited day after day for the next Mingel. I came to meet people and make friends,” he said.

Nabi came from Pakistan in 2024 and completed his master’s degree in June. He is now looking for full-time employment and has made use of both the mentoring programme and Norwegian language training.

“If I want to live here, I have to learn the language,” Nabi said.

He has previously lived in both Stavanger and Oslo, but would prefer to build his future in Haugalandet.

“In the future, I would like to work here and start a family. I want to raise my family here.”

Jobs and a sense of belonging

Welcome Hub is also about helping people enter the labour market. Since its launch, Jobbhjelperen has received 93 enquiries from people looking for work in the region. Five mentor pairs have been established through the partnership with “Sammen om en jobb”, while newcomers have also been connected with language cafés and Norwegian language courses.

The experiences so far also demonstrate why this work matters to local businesses. Attracting a strong candidate and convincing them to accept a job may not be enough. Employment opportunities for a partner, language skills, friendships and a sense of social belonging can all play a decisive role in whether a family chooses to stay.

This was also an important reason for establishing Welcome Hub.

“We see that many people leave the region after only a few years – not because of their job, but because they do not settle in socially or lack a network outside the workplace,” Karianne Ellefsen said at the launch in January.

Welcome Hub is part of Talentsamarbeidet in Haugalandet, a partnership involving more than 30 organisations from the private and public sectors.

The partnership was established in 2007 and aims, through joint efforts, to strengthen Haugalandet as a region in which to live and work. Its objectives include highlighting career opportunities in the region and making it easier to recruit and retain skilled workers.

Discussing the way forward

The final part of the partner breakfast was devoted to group discussions. The partners considered which services should be developed further, the challenges businesses face when welcoming employees who move to the region, and how Welcome Hub can become more closely integrated with recruitment and onboarding.

Funding is also on the agenda. Welcome Hub is currently funded largely through project-based financing, and one of the tasks ahead will be to establish a more sustainable long-term model.

After its first eight months, the goal remains the same: more of those who come to Haugalandet should not only find a job – they should also feel at home and want to stay.