Entrepreneurial push for US students

FOR the past five years, Atlantic Impact has been exposing students to new opportunities through local and global travel.

This is the second year that the non-profit organisation, which works with high schools in Detroit, Michigan alongside Eastern Michigan University, is allowing students to learn about Barbados and spend two days shadowing Barbadian entrepreneurs, through the Global School to Work internship programme, a partnership with the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (CoESL).

On Thursday, the 18 students embarked on internships in the areas of Farming, E-Waste Management, Catering, Graphic Design, and Health and Beauty.

“Many of the students have said that they want to start their own businesses and even if they don’t want to start their own businesses, one of the things we know is that entrepreneurship certainly prepares the individual for the world of work,” CoESL Managing Director, Dr. Marcia Brandon shared with The Barbados Advocate.

“The most important thing of course is that the students are learning… It is not only about entrepreneurship, but it’s also a cultural experience. In addition, the high school students are also being mentored by the Eastern Michigan University students.”

Executive Director of Atlantic Impact, Anise Hayes, revealed that students involved in Atlantic Impact go out into the Detroit community and explore local businesses.

“What we decided to do was tie the local experiences to a global experience. Therefore, they are able to see how both Detroit entrepreneurs operate and now they are understanding how Barbadians do as well… It is really helping our students branch out and connect a local experience to a global one.”

Haynes believes that the programme has helped students explore career options and think more broadly about what is possible.

“For a lot of our students, they hear of mainstream career paths. They think this is something they should be doing, or must do, because their parents are telling them they should do it as well as society. Dr. Brandon has really helped our students see that there are other options…

“We have done this programme before in England, but we decided to come to Barbados which is a completely different atmosphere for our students – in a great way. Because of the size of the country, the culture, the friendliness of the people – our students feel very much at ease,” she expressed.

Cory Hamilton, Lecturer at Eastern Michigan University, added: “One of the things I teach in my course work is Global Leadership and Global Citizenship as well as Cultural Competence in leadership. So, we just don’t just focus on management, but we focus on how do you cultivate social change and how do you cultivate movements for the good of the community. So, having this opportunity to visit Barbados and to see how that happens in another place, in another space, is just priceless I think for our students.”