You-Biz Camp Empowers Youths in East Port-of-Spain

US Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, John L. Estrada was among the specially invited guests when the camp culminated in a graduation ceremony at St. Francois Girls’ College in Belmont. Eight dynamic groups presented their business plans to judges, their peers, parents and facilitators.

As a result of the outreach efforts by the East POS Development Company Ltd, students from schools including, but not limited to Belmont Boys Secondary, Success Laventille Secondary, Tranquility Secondary, Laventille Jr Life Centre, Woodbrook Secondary, Barataria North Secondary, St. Francois Girls’ College and Queen’s Royal College were able to benefit from the diverse training received from the facilitators.

Enterprise Hub managing director, Ashley Mitchell says the aim of the workshop was to unlock the entrepreneurial potential so the young people could apply what they learnt and contribute to economic development in their communities. “We introduced students to entrepreneurial thinking/mindset, behaviours, techniques and traits (including traits they already possess) and how to identify it in themselves and their peers.” He says the training was multi-dimensional.

Facilitated by John Charles, Rebecca Bradshaw-Coryat and Mitchell, the camp officials used mini-workshops, games, reference material from the International Labour Organisation, documentaries and field trips so that the participants could engage with the concepts and put them into practice. “The poignant featured film by Art Connect depicted how young people from Laventille used art and creativity to give them a sense of hope to rise above their circumstance,” says Mitchell.

The participants learnt soft skills central to entrepreneurship - leadership, innovation, risk taking, conflict resolution, motivation, team work, decision making, time management, taking initiative, finding yourself and identifying your own talent.

The more technical skills garnered included an introduction to business planning, idea generation and idea screening, marketing strategy – research, segmentation, targeting and positioning, developing a financial plan – cash flows, profit and loss, record keeping through a business game (work life balance and decision making), operational plan – HR plan and risk management.

The two youth facilitators – Joshua Mitchell and Naomi Forde also assisted to reinforce points to their peers in a real and tangible way.

The youths were taken to Langston Roach Industries where they got an opportunity to get some insight into the manufacturing side of entrepreneurship. They also visited Jason Reece, of Bad Granny, whose business entails the remodeling of vehicles. The third entrepreneur Arlene Collins- Mohammed of Arlene’s Mall was someone who shared a similar background to the teens in some cases, and whom Mitchell says was very inspirational to learn how she rose above her circumstance and make several successful businesses starting from very little.

The campers all came up with a quirky group name and also a name for their businesses. “The group that won was Finding Nemo and their business name was Back to the Future. Their business entailed 3D Printing, and it was a proud moment to see that their hard work – late nights and early mornings paid off as a result of their preparation,” Mitchell says.

Placing second was Group UTL whose business name was Dynamic Roots, a dance and music academy, and Group KCAL came in third with their Beauty Blossoms business presentation of natural beauty products.

All groups added a new dimension to entrepreneurship in some way with the execution of their well-researched business concepts, identification of their target customer and responses to questions posed by the judges.

Some provided good visual aids such as Group KCAL, which presented soaps as samples, as well as Group Vendetta which did a live dance performance.

The first, second and third place winners were all given units from The Unit Trust Corporation of TT. A special prize also went to Cassie Huggins for The Most Entrepreneurial Camper. She was awarded units and a book written by one of the judges.

Ambassador Estrada delivered an empowering speech about his journey to success, also coming from the East POS community.

He urged the youths to resist peer pressure and never give up. He migrated to the US as a teenager and served in the United States Marine Corps for 34 years, later rising to the ranks of Sergeant Major.

Ambassador Estrada says his mission is to strengthen the relationship between TT and US and congratulated the young people for their work at the camp as it would help them later on in life. He said small businesses are vital to the success of all economies, and stressed the importance of treating everyone with respect, dignity and compassion.

For more: info@enterprise-hub.com