Guyanese Jenell Pierre is among a group of 12 Caribbean entrepreneurs shortlisted for the next round in the keenly contested Caribbean Call to Action Entrepreneurship Challenge.
Pierre, who owns fashion accessories company Boy Jay, which is seeking to expand and employ young persons, was among 12 Caribbean entrepreneurs selected from a group of 24 who made presentations when the three-day event came to a close in Barbados on Sunday.
The others shortlisted are Devin Odlum of Antigua and Barbuda; Joshua Forte and Nikele Davis of Barbados; William Louis Mark of Grenada; Janice McLeod and Shamoy Hajare of Jamaica; Magaran Joseph of St Lucia; Vincent Polak of Suriname; Josanna Arnold, Dialsingh and Korice Nancis of Trinidad and Tobago, a press release from Impressions Media said.
The Caribbean Young Leaders Entrepreneurship is an initiative of the Global Leadership Coalition (GLC), A Million for a Billion (1M1B) and the Caribbean Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Livelihoods (CoESL). Over the weekend the participants were given advice and guidance from volunteer mentors about how to turn their ideas into viable businesses. On Sunday they were required to present their projects to judges James Husbands, Leslie Walling, Jean Lloyd, Marcia Brandon, Hashim Ruan and Mark Ifill in the Bresmay Conference Room at Infinity on the Beach in St Lawrence Gap, Christ Church.
In his address, Walling said it was so tough choosing the top performers that the judges agreed to advance more of the participants than originally planned.
“It is very clear that each of you put a lot of work into this. We know this because you made our job very hard. We had to look very carefully at the presentations and it was such a tight race that there were a number of draws, so instead of 10 we will have 12 people going forward,” he said before announcing the winners to an expectant gathering of entrepreneurs, mentors, facilitators and donors.
Tonni Brodber, UN Women Deputy Representative for the UN Women Multi-Country Office – Caribbean, said she was impressed by the projects. “What I have seen here is bold thinking and bold movement and that’s what we need for economic empowerment in the Caribbean,” she said. “Nine Caribbean countries have debt that is over 100 per cent of their GDP. So everything that we create and work for is going to paying our debt. That is why we need you. That is why we need entrepreneurs that are changing and innovating our economies and our way of thinking about how we take care of ourselves and our communities.”
Brodber advised those who did not advance in the challenge not to give up on establishing businesses but to continue working on their ideas.
“Sometimes you may have to say goodbye to the idea and think about something new because on one path you realise, ‘maybe I should have gone this way instead, because this is really where the need lies and this is where my comparative advantage is with that need,” she said.
In further advising all the entrepreneurs the UN official said, “Don’t lose your passion, but don’t be completely overtaken by your passion. Allow your skills to inform your passion and your passion to inform you skills. Don’t let the circumstances around you define you.”
In the coming weeks the shortlisted candidates will participate in an online course on entrepreneurship basics and will be required to log-on every week for mentoring sessions, co-founder of 1M1B Manav Subodh said.
GLC co-founder Mary Symmonds said a network would also be created to allow those who were not shortlisted to keep in contact with each other and have their entrepreneurship queries answered.
