It’s been a long time – specifically since the advent of COVID-19 – that entrepreneurs and business-focused people truly had a platform that helps them reset and reignite their motivation. However, on Sunday evening, they were not short of this type of empowerment as a sold-out audience attended the first edition of The Climb held at the Hilton Hotel, Needham’s Point, St. Michael.
The event, which was spearheaded by businesswoman and real estate broker Cherita O’dell in collaboration with the Lifetime Co-operative Credit Union, was dubbed a motivational event for entrepreneurs.
The session was insightful and gave useful information on a plethora of areas through methods such as fun activities, and shared experiences from guest speakers, all in an effort to multiply and stimulate success. Speakers were drawn from an array of areas including Tamara Gibson, owner of candle company, Native Caribbean; business consultant Everick Eastmond; and owner of Little League Gym William Beckles.
“When you’re having an event like this, you have to make it a myriad of things. We’re in the heart of Crop Over so first of all you have to make it have some entertainment value. Yes, it is a knowledge base and you are going to walk away with information but are you going to feel good at the end of it?
And we said when we think about all this and motivating entrepreneurs, we want to put them into a melting pot where they see their own, they’re engaged in activities to pull them out of their comfort zone and they are coming away with a word that stirs them up.
Mix those three or four things together then you have the formula to create an event that persons would be drawn to,” O’dell explained. Speaking to Barbados TODAY on the sidelines of the function, O’dell said that the fact the event was fully subscribed is an indication that people are hungry for motivation to get through these trying times.
“Let’s be honest, the last two years were rough on everybody so imagine being a small or medium enterprise which was shut down too throughout this process and you either have to rebuild yourself or you’ve seen all your profits dwindle just to keep you alive and you have to rebuild. That’s what this event was all about, to let people know – look around, these are your peers.
Anything you are going through right now, these other people know it too. We are all treading water, trying to do our best and that energy we hope you feed off of it and pull yourself out of any slump that you might be in or just catapult yourself to the next level,” she said.
The Climb was O’dell’s brainchild and came about after she delivered the keynote address at the launch of the 2022 fellowship programme of the United States’ Department of State Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative. She said that the response has been so overwhelming, with people thanking her for making them feel seen as entrepreneurs. So much so, that she felt compelled to share such inspiration with the Barbadian public.
O’dell could not yet commit to the event being held annually, but she expressed the hope of hosting follow-up activities and events in the future because it is her view that continued reinforcement is necessary. She said: “Life is an adventure and the reason you are in business in the first place is that you are one of a special set of people who feel called to this aspect, which is for risk takers only – only the brave.
The fact that you have even set out in that direction means that you can’t stop because if you try to go back to normal, normal will shut you down.
And that being said, you just need to get the tools to help you know ‘do I pivot, do I pause or do I keep going full steam ahead’. Once you identify which of those you have to do to keep your business turning you will be fine. This is what you signed up for as an entrepreneur – one of the called.” (KC)
