Entrepreneurs commended for their work
The efforts being made across the region to stimulate and propel a culture of entrepreneurship, especially as it relates to digitisation, is being commended.
Patrick McCaskie Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Commerce spoke to this on Friday as he delivered the feature address on behalf of the Minister of Small Business, Entrepreneurship and Commerce, Dwight Sutherland during the closing ceremony of the first cohort of the Caribbean Tech Entrepreneurship Programme (CTEP), which was held in the conference room of the Caribbean Development Bank.
Addressing the audience, which included the top three entrepreneurs in each of the three categories of the programme from across the region, he told them that they represent a major pillar of growth in the Caribbean, which at present has very low levels of growth. Moreover, he said that in an age which is shaped by convenience, efficiency and connecting people, goods and services at the touch of a fingertip, the business skills they have learnt are certain to place them at the forefront of the technological era.
“Today we celebrate you the enthusiastic participants and we acknowledge you the dedicated experts and mentors from the Caribbean Development Bank, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission, the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship and of course Orbit Innovation Project Inc. Your combined efforts are sure to position this region to be competent global competitors. It is quite evident that the Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us as we observe the explosion of smart devices, piloted by new technologies and the creation of new business models based upon the formation of collaborative digital platforms,” the PS noted.
He added, “For you the participants, the culmination of the Caribbean Tech Entrepreneurship Programme is but the first step in positioning yourselves to attract new opportunities for business, find creative solutions for regional challenges, build new industries and engender a spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation amongst your peers”.
Additionally, McCaskie indicated that as some of the region’s forward-thinking entrepreneurs, they are definitely on their way to “becoming future trailblazers, future pioneers, future business leaders and the next affluential pathfinders”.
He added that through strategic partnerships and programmes such as CTEP, which create safe spaces for innovation, encourage reaching beyond one’s imagination and challenge the existing paradigm, the region’s economies can be transformed by leveraging the youths’ talent, imagination, creativity and commitment.
“If we as a region want to be the fore-runners, the game changers and carve out a place of prominence as a global leader in technological entrepreneurship we must be the pioneers of innovation, the pioneers of education and even get into the trenches and “bring the hustle” in order to be dominant in technology,” he stated. (JRT)