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| A young makeup artist at work. (FP) |
Not every business established will be successful; consequently, it is critical that the notion of ???failure’ in business is demystified.
This view was expressed by Regional Director of the Caribbean Group of Youth Business Trusts, and Executive Director of the Barbados Youth Business Trust (BYBT), Marcia Brandon.
She made this point during a panel discussion entitled Caribbean Youth Entrepreneurship Development which took place yesterday at FOROMIC 2012, which is currently being held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Ms. Brandon told the audience that it was important for young people to understand that businesses do not always progress in the way one expected.?? In fact, she pointed out: "We understand that they will fail, [because] not every single business that opens is going to stay open; not every single business that opens will grow into a big business, or even a sustained business."
The Director disclosed that her organisation, the Caribbean Group of Youth Business Trusts, was seeking to demystify the notion of failure through the Caribbean Youth Model of Entrepreneurship.?? She added: "We are using the failure of the youth, those young people we put in business, as a learning route or mapping [tool] so that they could understand why it is they did not do well in business, what they need to do better the next time, or, [how] we can use the lessons learnt to help other young people when they start off in business."
Ms. Brandon noted that her organisation and the Caribbean Group of Youth Business Trusts defined success in several ways.??
"Success… is a young person who has stuck with that business for as long as the first three years.?? Success is also a young person who has been able to employ other people, whether it is part-time or full-time," she reasoned.
Ms. Brandon further explained: "Success is also a young person who has failed in business or not done as well as they had expected to do, but is able to either go into further training, find a good job, or to have the courage to start another business.?? Those are some of the things by which we measure success."??
The Caribbean Group of Youth Business Trusts comprise nine youth business trusts in regional countries such as Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Belize.????