Youth programme reaping success
The Enterprise in Action Youth Programme put on in several secondary schools across the island by the Small Business Association (SBA), is likely to become a Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) soon.
That’s the word from Senator Lynette Holder, Chief Executive Officer of the SBA. She was speaking at the media launch of the Barbados Association of Guidance Counsellors’ 2019 National Career Showcase, held in the conference room of the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training last Friday. According to Senator Holder, the SBA, which is a silver sponsor of the Career Showcase, has already made their application to the TVET Council and had discussions with its management on the programme attaining a CVQ designation. Once their application is approved, she said students will have the opportunity to earn that competency-based certification and add it to their résumé.
Her comments came as she indicated that Enterprise in Action Youth Programme, which has been running since 2009 is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.
Holder said with the success they have seen through the programme, the National Career Showcase seems a “good fit” for the SBA going forward. The SBA head noted that during the ten-year period, they have been able to work with up to 15 secondary schools, with an average of 275 students fourth and/or fifth form students per year coming through the programme.
“You do the maths quickly; in excess of 2 700 students have had an opportunity to learn a bit more about entrepreneurship and the practical component to develop a business case at the school,” she stated.
While the SBA is proud of this accomplishment, Holder made it clear that the Association is not intent on creating entrepreneurs among all school students, explaining that such is not practical, nor is it realistic. Their mandate, she stated, is to try to encourage the next generation to be entrepreneurial thinkers.
“If we can get persons to seize opportunities as they are presented, to take the risks associated with those opportunities and to have an attitude of innovation, constantly looking to improve our processes and our products, if we can get persons to ascribe to these three basic concepts then we are on our way to changing our paradigm, to changing the way we think,” she maintained.
She is adamant that if Barbados is going to go to the next level, with the availability of traditional jobs dwindling, our people must be trained to appreciate what are going to be the new fields of endeavour and new careers, many of which she noted are influenced by technology.
“So we therefore need to train our students to think entrepreneurially, to appreciate and understand the significance of thinking outside the box… being innovators; being creators; how to monetise your talents; how to monetise the giftings that you have – this is where we are at,” she stated. (JRT)