Challenge finalists to get scholarships, internship opportunities

Five students will benefit from $5 000 in scholarships after being named as finalists in the 2024 Mr Executive Challenge.

Javier Blades of Alleyne School,  Shawn Seales of Ellerslie Secondary School, Roquelme Griffith of The Lodge School,  Kadeem Beckles of The St Michael School and St Leonard’s Boys’ Morgan Eversley will each receive a $1 000 scholarship.

Additionally, the students, who will compete in the finals of the competition in September, will benefit from internship opportunities, also courtesy of sponsors WIBISCO Ltd.

The announcement was made on Tuesday at Solidarity House, Harmony Hall in St Michael, during the graduation ceremony of 36 male students who participated in the fourth staging of the Mr Executive Challenge, an initiative created in 2017 to challenge young men to be better versions of themselves.

Founder of the competition, Winston Cumberbatch told Barbados TODAY that over the past three months, participants went through training programmes with particular focus on the principles of business, including marketing, financing and business conceptualising.

“Participating in groups, they had to come up with a business idea and then work together to bring it to fruition and they did a wonderful job at it,” he said, adding that the businesses created ranged from cosmetics to candle making.

Cumberbatch noted that though the challenge was initially for senior boys in fifth and sixth form, fourth formers were introduced to the competition this year.

“Having seen and heard from past and present participants what this activity has done for young men and how it has changed them, I would encourage others to participate,” Cumberbatch said. “With the idea that men are in a crisis and our young men tend to find themselves on ‘the block’, something like this should become viral. It would be if people get to really understand what it is doing for our young men. It can be an answer for many problems and, certainly, it can redirect several of those young men who may be headed towards ‘the block’.”

Beaming with pride throughout the entire ceremony was Griffith’s mother Dedreia Applewhaite.

Sharing how the challenge helped her son, she said: “He’s currently preparing for CAPE [the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam] and I can see how participating in Mr Executive really helped him with how he managed his time, and also boosted his self-confidence. He is an only child and throughout the challenge, I could clearly see him learning how to communicate better with others and [it] gave him a better mannerism overall,” she added.

Applewhaite joined with Cumberbatch in encouraging other young men to get involved in the challenge.

“I would certainly recommend this challenge to other parents. It’s good for our boys and you will definitely see results,” she said.

Come September, the five finalists will be tested on various skills including community leadership, interviewing for a job and pitching a business to CEOs as they compete for the ultimate title of Mr Executive.

(SM)