Dare to be different!

Executive Director of the Barbados Renewable Energy Association (BREA), Meshia Clarke, challenged the scholarship winners of the Barbados Workers Union Co-operative Credit Union Limited (BWUCCUL) to be different.

Clarke’s challenge came as she addressed the students during an awards ceremony, which was held at the BWUCCUL yesterday evening. She noted that in order to be different, students must be willing to be innovative.

“To be innovative is to alter the status quo and question that there are new ways of doing things. Recognising that because we have always done things in a particular way, that this does not mean that we must continue to do so or even accept that this is the only way of achieving that singular goal,” she said.
She expressed that there are some impressive local innovators of change that the students could use as role models, such as James Husbands, the managing director of Solar Dynamics, the first water heating company in Barbados or Mark Hill, former CEO and now Chief Innovation Officer of Innogen Technologies Inc, one of Barbados’ first Solar PV Firms.

Expressing that she was almost certain that these innovators were faced with some level of resistance when they were introducing change, she pointed out that these individuals did not allow these nay-sayers to hinder their progress and ideas for change.

Using herself as an example, Clarke revealed that she was also forced to challenge the status quo in order to stand out and succeed in life.

“As you see, a graduate of a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History was never expected to pursue a career in International Development, yet alone, become the head of a leading National Non-Governmental Organisation; an organisation which at its core is much more aligned to scientific, engineering and business development background,” she said.

“The status quo predicted that a student of the Arts could only ever pursue a career in teaching. I want to throw a challenge out to all the young people: Don’t be afraid to alter society’s status quo- a status quo which seeks to predict who or what you should be.”