Parkinson Memorial Secondary to get million-dollar facelift

One of Barbados’ leading businesses will be celebrating its 100th year of existence in a big way, with major investment in education and entrepreneurship.

Goddard Enterprises Ltd (GEL) will champion a project which will pour $1 million of funding into one of the island’s secondary schools and will also officially launch its Entrepreneur Awards Competition for aspiring business owners, which is expected to provide them a platform to pitch their new and innovative business ideas to GEL experts.

The Parkinson Secondary School is to benefit from the million-dollar rebuilding compliments of GEL, the company which adopted the institution three years ago.

Managing Director and CEO of Goddard Enterprises Ltd, Anthony Ali, made the disclosure on Tuesday during a media conference.

He said the company regards educational investment a critical mission for the organisation, and after adopting the school, providing job placements and invaluable work experiences for many students, a decision was made to rebuild sections of the campus which was damaged by fire some years ago.

“This year because it’s our 100th anniversary we decided that we will rebuild Block D which was condemned… and have it opening sometime in September or October [this year].

“We are trying to use this as a role model for the rest of the communities in which we operate, that this is a great example of a PPP (Public-Private Partnership) aimed at improving the next generation of youth that we think will be the next leaders and entrepreneurs within Barbados and the other communities in which we operate.”

Ali also told a press conference at the Haggatt Hall headquarters that financial support and coaching for budding entrepreneurs in the business competition would be available in the regions where the company operates.

“The award is basically a competition, where we will be awarding prizes broken down geographically – four of them being awarded in Barbados, three of them being awarded in the rest of the Caribbean, two in Latin America, and one that we are reserving for families from the Goddard businesses. Basically, we are giving away ten entrepreneurial wards, valued at $10 000, but this is not a one-time award.

“We award the ten upfront, then those ten after getting their financial reward will get operational support. They will be assigned a coach and a mentor, one of our GMs and one of our finance members who have some understanding of that business that they are trying to promote. Then next year, those ten come back and are going to compete again, and the three best, no matter where they are, will then win an additional $25 000 each,” he explained.

The process, according to Ali will be repeated again in 2023, with one person being selected out of the final three participants, to receive an additional $50 000 for their winning business idea which would have done the best over the three-year period.

“This is our way of giving back to the community. This is our way of honouring what our forefathers did, which is really to develop entrepreneurship and drive their business,” Ali said.

The competition is expected to run from August 2021 to August 2023. Entries must be submitted by October 13, 2021. (SB)