National Youth Week 2020 deemed a success

JUST over 30 young entrepreneurs were given a prime opportunity to showcase their products and services over the weekend during the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme’s, Youth Enterprise Expo, which was held at Sky Mall in Haggatt Hall on Saturday.

The expo was held as part of the activities to celebrate National Youth Week 2020, which permanent secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment Cheryl Alleyne described as a success. According to Alleyne, “Entrepreneurship has been declared as a critical component within the country’s overall recovery strategy and is consistent with the new. This event affords young entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase their talent, creativity and innovation as well as earn additional income as they present their business offerings, to a wide Barbadian audience.”

During a brief ceremony, Acting Manager of YES Ryan Moseley explained that coming out of National Youth Week there will be an attempt to create new programmes to cater to the youth, acknowledging the difficulty many of them are currently facing due to COVID 19.
Moseley stressed the importance of showcasing their talents and skills and demonstrating that entrepreneurship is a viable career option.
“It is no longer something you do when you cannot get a job. Young people are naturally progressing towards owning their own business and being creative and innovative in their ideas. YES stands ready to channel and champion the cause of young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship as a whole.”

Director of NSR Ltd Everick Eastmond commended the YES noting that he has had a long relationship with the organisation. He encouraged the young entrepreneurs to grasp the knowledge and expertise provided through mentoring, which he said is invaluable.
He also encouraged the exhibitors to continue to broaden their skills. “This is where the rubber meets the road. Gone from the idea and excitement to actually seeing if it can work. It is the first step in business and there are many steps to go to define yourself as an entrepreneur,” he said, encouraging them to seek out innovative approaches and continuously build their skills.

“YES is helping you to build that skill and impart the fundamental knowledge that you need to be able to start the business and continue it. You have to put in a measure of succession and perpetuity into business and that is when the entrepreneurship mind gets into play.”

Eastmond also issued a challenge to lending agencies to put resources behind innovative ventures in the marketplace. “Asking disadvantaged people to look for three other disadvantaged people to guarantee a venture or prospect is putting everybody in jeopardy. We have to recognise that if we want to build innovation in a society like this we have to be able to throw the kitchen sink behind it. That means providing the mentorship, the skills, the opportunity for people to be able to show what they can do and more so to provide the resources necessary, without all of these three guarantors who are poor just like us,” he challenged.

During the Expo, persons were able to view mounted exhibits of the work of departments within the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, as well as other strategic business support organisations such as, the Youth Mainstreaming Programme (YPM), Youth Development Programme (YDP) and the Community Development Department (CDD). Participants in the Barbados Entrepreneurship Fund $20 Challenge were also present.