Financial literacy summit planned for 2025

The Ministry of Energy and Business will be hosting a National Financial Literacy Summit for the youth next year to help children understand the relationship between financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and business development.

Minister of Energy and Business Senator Lisa Cummins, who made the announcement on Monday, said the National Financial Literacy Programme had been introduced in several primary and secondary schools in the past two months, and officials were about to roll out the community programme.

“There must be a Financial Literacy Summit in 2025. Barbados must host the inaugural Financial Literacy Summit for…our children, and then integrate the communities in the same way that we have already rolled it out in our schools, and we’re rolling it out in our communities,” she said as she delivered remarks at the launch of FundAccess’ Keeping It Real programme, at Sky Mall.

“2025 must be that year when every school in Barbados assembles at a conference facility, where the children learn, and they understand about the relationship between financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and business development…. We want to ensure that the Keeping It Real programme is in a position to tell the stories of our successful young entrepreneurs as well.”

During her address, she noted that many micro and small businesses remained in the informal sector. However, she stressed that her ministry wants to facilitate them going into the formal sector.

Senator Cummins said persons had expressed various concerns, including that they would have to pay taxes on entering the formal sector. However, she stressed, “Benefits come with responsibilities; rights come with obligations and that has to be a national conversation on everything that we do, including business development.

“If you want the benefits, there has to be a correlation between your benefits and your support programmes and your integration into the formal economy, where you are able to then meet your obligations as a business owner. We want to make sure that we are able to facilitate that transition from informal to formal.”

The minister expressed her displeasure at the fact that when some people are engaging small businesspeople, they want to negotiate the price of their product – something they would never attempt with established businesses.

“I think it’s an unfair and unrealistic thing for us to do to people who are trying to grow their businesses,” she insisted.

Senator Cummins suggested that additional work on pricing products would be done with entrepreneurs, as she outlined the various costs that influence the price, including labour, electricity, transportation, and logistics.

She told entrepreneurs: “What I do not want you to do is to get into a negotiation on your price in a way that the stores on the high streets do not. It is not right. You have to build and grow your businesses, and as long as you are confident in your pricing and you have done what you have needed to do, your price is your price….”

Acknowledging that entrepreneurship is a hard journey, she committed her ministry’s support for entrepreneurs.

Keeping It Real is an online video series through which entrepreneurs in Barbados share their stories about their journeys in business. It encompasses interview segments with entrepreneurs, reels, and other content to be delivered via the programme’s Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channels – keepingitrealbb.

The video series is powered by FundAccess, and sponsored by the Barbados Trust Fund Limited, Export Barbados, and NSR Limited, with support from the Ministry of Energy and Business.
(BGIS)/BT)