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Founding Member of the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation (BEF) and the BEF’s Education and Talent Development Pillar Champion, Keith Miller delivering remarks at the Agriculture Entrepreneurship Programme Graduation Ceremony, which was held recently at Almond Bay Caterers.

Youth advised to never give up

BEING a successful entrepreneur is not based on how well you do in the classroom.

This was one of the messages that the founding member of the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation (BEF) and the BEF’s Education and Talent Development Pillar Champion, Keith Miller, gave to the participants of the Agriculture Entrepreneurship Programme at their recent graduation ceremony at Almond Bay Caterers.

“Business is not dictated by what school you go to or what grades you get. Business is about the passion that you put into it. Sure, it is about making the right decisions and you have to work hard – you all already know that by now.

“You have to have integrity because if you don’t, you lose your customers and you lose your supplies if you don’t pay the bills, but my one thing, and it is the young people in particular I am talking to…the one thing that I would like for you to take away with you from here now when you leave, and this is not some cliché, throw-away line, this is a fact. You can go as far as you want to, and don’t let anybody get in your way.”

Echoing the statements made by Chairman of the BEF Board, Chris de Caires, he told the young people that there are many highly successful business persons today who do not possess academic qualifications.

“The important thing now is that you keep going. Keep going. It doesn’t matter if you don’t get top marks, it doesn’t matter if you qualify next year, just keep going, keep going, keep going…As Chris said, there are many, many very successful business people who left school with no academic qualifications.”

Additionally, the youths were told that they should not let their past define their future; and he used the the Common Entrance Exam as one prime example, noting that they can still attain success regardless of how many marks they scored in this exam or which school they passed for.

“So again to you young people, just stay on that journey. Stay on it. Life is not a race or if it is a race, there is no finishing line. You keep going. What is important is to stay in the race. You started this programme, you are all here for a reason, you are here because you stayed in the race, you finished the programme and you graduated and that is progress. That is good. That is the kind of excellence – that you’ve done it.”

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