The USAID-funded Skills and Knowledge for Youth Employment (SKYE) project which seeks to develop entrepreneurial and management skills among young Guyanese through its “Be Your Own Boss” (BYOB) initiative will, on Wednesday February 18, show off the achievements of the first batch of young people who have successfully completed the programme.
In a telephone interview with Stabroek Business earlier this week SKYE Chief-of-Party Magda Fiona Wills said the BYOB training exercise commenced last month in Regions Three, Four, Six and Ten and attracted 62 youths whom, she said, “have indicated a strong passion to develop their own enterprises. She said that as part of the exercise, groups of participants were allocated amounts of $5,000 and challenged to use the money to undertake a worthwhile business venture. “We were particularly pleased to find evidence that young people are
prepared to change their outlook,” she said, adding that the project has been sufficiently encouraged by the outcomes of this initial exercise to target other groups within communities. Wills said an encounter is expected to take place with a community group in Ann’s Grove shortly to further the pursuits of the BYOB project.
“SKYE is about empowering youth. We don’t direct them, we provide guidance and tools so that they can help themselves and, in the end, be an asset to themselves, their families, their communities and, ultimately, to society,” Wills declared. She added that in pursuit of the objective of helping young Guyanese to develop and refine entrepreneurial skills, the SKYE project had moved to establish contact with the local Small Business Bureau which provides both training and grants for small business projects that meet the institution’s criteria.
