Will the Commonwealth support entrepreneurs in the Caribbean?
28 November 2009
Dr Siddhartha Sankar Dash writes:
In the Caribbean I mostly worked and interacted with the youth and found that there is an absence of entrepreneurial culture. Can we start an entrepreneurship school in the Caribbean? Can the Commonwealth provide financial support?
Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General, replies:
Thank you for your email. At the Secretariat we recognise entrepreneurship is the life force of any successful economy. We have a track record in promoting enterprise, helping governments to support small and medium sized enterprises, which make up 90% of all businesses and are the dynamo of any economy. But we are also active on the individual scale, working with businesses to provide training for their staff.
Of course young people are the future of any business. It is so important to capture the zeal and enthusiasm in the young, and I welcome your effort to support entrepreneurialism in the Caribbean. Young people need skills, funds and mentoring if they are to become both job-seekers and job-creators. Youth enterprise needs to be comprehensive and holistic.
With limited resources it is not possible for us to support every request for financial assistance, but I can tell you that we are very active in this area.
The Commonwealth Youth Credit Initiative for example, piloted in Guyana, India, Zambia and Solomon Islands, goes from strength to strength. In the last two years alone it has trained over 20,000 young people across the Commonwealth, and started up nearly 2,500 businesses. It has proved that young people are bankable, offering small loans to budding young entrepreneurs around the globe and has had great success in inspiring young people in the Caribbean.
To date more than 150 young people have been trained in Guyana, while in Dominica 169 young men and women have received entrepreneurship training.
In a way your email couldn’t have been more timely: This week the Secretariat announced the launch of a Caribbean Business Incubation Association (CBIA), a network established thanks to technical and financial assistance from the Commonwealth, among other partners, to help businesses in the Caribbean. It will provide support, training, access to business facilities and technical assistance.
I would recommend that you get in touch with the Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre, based in Georgetown, Guyana, about your specific request – they should be able to guide you.
