Youth urged to ‘go after your dreams!’

One young aspiring entrepreneur is calling on the nation’s youth to “go after their dreams”.

In fact, winner of the 2014/2015 Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation (BEF) $20 Challenge, Britney Sealy, believes “If there was ever a time for young people to change the world – it’s now!”

“Societies are changing rapidly as technology evolves at an ever-growing rate. More opportunities are presented to everyone in various echelons of society to achieve social upward mobility, whether that be as an influencer on YouTube or an App developer. We are now living in a world where young people don’t have to wait until they are 38 or 45 years old to achieve their dream careers. We are living in societies with 25 and 30-year-old millionaires.”

Offering this advice to Cycle 9 participants of the BEF’s $20 Challenge, an entrepreneurship competition, which officially got underway last week, she also made it clear that regardless of what society says, “you are not too young to be the best versions of yourselves and contribute to society in monumental ways.”

“It will be rough, there will be many disappointments and closed doors, but in order to change the world right now, you need to be resilient. Resilience means making a tenth phone call after nine other persons told you ‘no’. Resilience means working ten to 14 hours some days because you understand, that doing business in our climate as young persons, is twice as hard.”

Growing up in an entrepreneurial household, Sealy was always exposed to the idea of owning a business. However, she admits that it was only when awarded the opportunity through the $20 Challenge that she experienced, in part, the immense responsibility of entrepreneurship.

“I stand admitting on behalf of the youth that we don’t know everything. It is for this reason, the $20 Challenge stands as an important programme in our society as young people have the unique opportunity to be the innovative leaders they are destined to be, but with guidance,” she said, expressing appreciation to Founding Member of BEF and Outgoing Champion of the $20 Challenge, Keith Miller for his guidance.

Sealy will be launching a local company on November 18.

Aiden Charles, owner of Bajan Essential Cuisine and the 2016/2017 winner described the $20 Challenge as “essential”, and expressed “I wish that eventually every school in Barbados will be required to participate. We need entrepreneurs.”

He revealed that at his school, The Codrington International School of Barbados, all fourth form students participate in the $20 Challenge as part of the Business Management Curriculum.

Students are loaned $20 for five weeks and challenged to make money, while also making a difference in their communities. 

“My school takes a holistic approach to learning and one of the learner profiles that we have to exhibit is being a risk taker. This trait is essential to the entrepreneurial spirit,” he pointed out.

Sharing his experience, Charles told Cycle 9 participants that he had big ideas but only $20, and had to learn to be realistic and creative.

“But, I still had to be innovative so that I could reach my goals of expanding my product line. I started out making hummus. It was basically only chickpeas, and since it was the least expensive item that I could produce, I could make a reasonable profit which allowed me to develop and eventually sell other products,” he said.

“That was just the start I added Bajan Seasoning, then Bajan Pepper Sauce, then Turmeric Tea and so on. Along the way, I have had to solve issues as they arose, adapt and be flexible to them. Anything could go wrong but you just have to roll with the punches,” Charles said. (TL)