Aspiring entrepreneurs have been encouraged to be bold and brave as they work towards achieving their dreams.
This charge from entrepreneur and director of Thorne Publishing & Productions, Toni Thorne as she delivered the feature address at the orientation for the 2018 cohort of the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES) Entrepreneurial Development and Training Programme.
She urged participants to be fearless and assertive as they seek to create their own small business enterprises.
“We as Bajans … we have to get focused or else the world is going to bypass us, and we also have to stop waiting for everybody else to give us something and get up and go after our dreams,” Thorne stressed.
Speaking on the theme ‘Create! Innovate! Make it Happen! – Preserving Our Entrepreneurial Legacy’ Thorne shared the challenges that she faced as a young entrepreneur from the age of 20, telling the aspiring small and micro enterprise owners to listen to constructive criticism and not limit themselves.
“We always go to the back of the room [to sit] and we think that the front of the room is too good for us and I don’t want us to continue to live like that because what is going to happen the world is going to bypass us and we’re going to be stuck here,” Thorne warned.
Permanent secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Sports & Youth, Mark Cummins, also gave the aspiring entrepreneur’s some words of encouragement, saying “you are now on the threshold of a new beginning, the sky is your limit, reach far, aim high and with YES’ help and God’s grace prepare to preserve our entrepreneurial legacy”.
Cummins also said that there needs to be more entrepreneurial activity in the island and among the youth.
“Barbados needs more entrepreneurs, more innovation and more high-growth micro-small and medium sized enterprises,” Cummins said.
“Entrepreneurship is a key competency for lifelong learning and entrepreneurship education is high on the agenda in Barbados and is promoted systematically.”
Today event was held at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, Sky Mall headquarters.
