Sixty young people will soon gain skills in finance and networking as part of the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme’s (YES) development training for business minded young people.
Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith, speaking at the launch of the training last Saturday, at Haggatt Hall, St. Michael, noted that for a business to be successful there must be passion, communication and good customer service.
While offering some advice to the trainees about what they should expect as entrepreneurs, Minister Griffith urged them to treat their business with extreme care.
He stated: “You should treat your business the way how you treat a newborn because it is at that stage right now. I am suggesting to you that if you do the necessary things in terms of parenting, if you do the necessary things in terms of how you treat your business, then you will have a child of business at the end of the day, that you’re very very proud of.”
They were also informed that word-of-mouth communication was usually given more weight in Barbados than other avenues of marketing and the Minister stressed it was important in terms of selling their product, business and service.
“Those are the important things, the passion that you bring to the business,” he said, while also emphasising the importance of having great customer service in order to stand apart.
The Youth Minister further encouraged the young men and women to grow their businesses to such a level that it out grows Barbados. Elaborating, he said: “One of the things that we’re looking to do is to export service, export products, and it rests with you. Look to see how your oyster can become bigger than Barbados, look to see how you can export in the region first, and then how you can go extra regional.
“We have links with a number of African countries that are looking for product coming from Barbados. But you must be able to deal with it at your level. You must have that vision in terms of where you take your business and where you want to place Barbados on the map.”
The YES classes commenced online this week. They will be held from Monday to Thursday, with morning and evening sessions beginning at 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. respectively. The training is expected to run for three months.